Khaberni - Producer Sara Khalifa Hamada arrived this Thursday afternoon from her detention in Badr Prison to the Cairo Criminal Court, held in the Fifth Settlement, in preparation for the beginning of her trial on charges of manufacturing drugs with the intent to trade.
During the session, the defense of the fifteenth defendant asserted that his client is Iraqi and has no connection with the other defendants, nor any involvement in the allegations of drug smuggling or manufacturing. He clarified that his only connection was that he knew the second defendant, as they share the same nationality.
From inside the dock, the defendant Yasser.H, with permission from the court, stated: «I am of Iraqi nationality and I swear to God I know nothing about drugs. I was raised in Egypt, my son is a pilot and my daughter is a doctor, and I had bought a car before being arrested but did not even get to drive it.»
The defendants used one of the residential buildings as a secret headquarters for storing raw materials and conducting manufacturing operations.
The case files revealed that the total seized drugs exceeded 750 kilograms of synthetic drugs and the materials used in their manufacture, alongside large sums of money suspected to be proceeds from criminal activity.
The referral decision was based on the testimonies of 20 witnesses, in addition to technical and digital evidence including conversations, photos, and video clips that meticulously documented the crime and the roles of the defendants.
Following the conclusion of the investigations, the public prosecution issued several precautionary decisions, including:
Inventory of the defendants' properties.
Seizure of their funds.
Lifting the secrecy on their bank accounts.
Adding the fugitive defendants to the no-fly list and lookout list.
Continuing the detention of the remaining defendants pending the case.
About the case
The incident details trace back to verified information received by the Drug Enforcement Administration about suspicious activities led by producer Sara Khalifa, which resulted in the raiding of two residential apartments in Cairo, one owned by her, used as secret labs for manufacturing drugs, notably the drug «Powder» known as synthetic hashish.
The investigations also showed that the defendant played a pivotal role in financing the criminal activity and traveled abroad to coordinate the import of raw materials from China in cooperation with two fugitive defendants, in addition to supervising the manufacturing processes inside a rented apartment, where the materials were mixed and tested before being distributed.
