Four men were yesterday convicted in connection with a spate of ATM bombings across Bahrain.

They were among five Bahrainis who went on trial at the High Criminal Court for attacks that took place over a four-day period last February at National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) branches in Sanad and Sitra, and the Credimax building in Seef, causing damage of more than BD42,000 ($109,267).

The group's ring leader, who is believed to be in Australia, was convicted of running and establishing a terror cell that aimed to cripple key establishments in Bahrain, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

Sentenced

He was sentenced to 15 years in absentia along with another defendant, who is also at large, for detonating the explosive devices.

The third man, a 24-year-old clearance clerk, was jailed for 15 years and fined BD200,000 for funding the cell and money laundering.

He was also convicted of receiving militia training in Iran and taking part in an illegal gathering.

His 21-year-old brother was jailed for 10 years and fined BD100,000 for being a member of the cell and laundering money.

However, judges cleared the fifth Bahraini of any involvement due to lack of evidence.

Prosecutors said the defendants carried out the explosions with help from people in Bahrain and abroad, according to court documents.

The 24-year-old suspect told prosecutors he received a Facebook message from a Bahraini living in Australia, in September, saying he had been chosen to be part of something big.

He then bought a Blackberry mobile phone, on which he communicated with a man in Iran, who ordered him to go to a mosque in Eker, where he found an envelope with BD1,100 in it.

He then told prosecutors that he split the money and put it in several envelopes and after labelling each one with names of villages, gave them to around 60 coldstores to be picked up.

The clearance clerk said that he got mobile phones, using IDs of Indian labourers and registered them in another person's name, whose information he got on the Internet. - TradeArabia News Service