Court upholds death sentence upon Talal

Kuwait: The Appeal Court in Kuwait yesterday upheld the death sentence imposed upon a member of the ruling Al Sabah family for drug trafficking, legal sources said yesterday.

The ruling family member, identified only as Shaikh Talal, was sentenced last December by the lower criminal court to death - a first in the history of the state.

The Appeals Court also confirmed life sentences imposed on three accomplices - an undocumented person, a Bangladeshi and an Indian.

Two others, a Lebanese and an Iraqi, were sentenced to seven years in jail each. They were accused along with Shaikh Talal of money laundering.

The death sentence must be confirmed by the Court of Cassation and then signed by the ruler before the defendant can be executed by hanging, sources told Gulf News.

Kuwaiti police arrested the group in April last year with large amounts of drugs, including at least 10 kilograms of cocaine and 120 kilograms of hashish, according to sources.

Bogus customer

They added case files indicate the arresting officer received information that the accused Indian citizen was trafficking in narcotics.

Acting on this information and armed with a search and arrest warrant, he sent him a bogus customer to buy some hashish worth 350 Kuwaiti dinars (about Dh4,689).

At a time agreed upon by both parties, he arrived at the scene with the Bangladheshi in a car that proved to belong to Shaikh Talal. After the operation was completed, the officer arrested the two men.

During interrogations, the two men admitted to possessing the drugs for trafficking, adding they worked for Shaikh Talal. Furthermore, they added Shaikh Talal's assistant, the undocumented person, had provided them with the drugs.

The two men guided the officer to Shaikh Talal's house in the suburb of Surra. Police raided his home and arrested him with his assistant. Large quantities of hashish and cocaine were found along with a pistol loaded with five bullets and other weapons.

During interrogations, Shaikh Talal admitted to possessing the drugs for trafficking, adding the firearms belonged to him and he kept them for self defence. He also admitted bringing the narcotics from Lebanon with the help of two people, the sources noted.