Lino Neil, 18, was detained at Hamad International Airport after being accused of being a drugs courier – his family say he was exploited and forced to carry cannabis by gangsters
An 18-year-old Scottish man has been thrown in a Qatari prison accused of drug trafficking. Lino Neil, a champion angler, spent his Christmas in a Doha cell crammed with 80 other men before being moved to the city’s Central Prison.
He claims he was coerced into transporting a suitcase filled with cannabis from Thailand to Dublin, but was caught in Doha, a city known for its strict anti-drug stance. The teen’s family from Drymen, near Stirling, shared how he rang home in sheer terror upon realising he could be stuck in the Gulf state for years.
His arrest at Hamad International Airport on November 21 comes amid a significant surge in drug mules hailing from Thailand and other Southeast Asian nations.
Earlier this week, Beki Wright, head of the National Crime Agency’s Borders Threat Team, warned about gullible young Brits being enticed by gangs promising lavish holidays in exchange for carrying “packages”, reports the Daily Record.
Lino’s mum Nicola, 49, believes her son – a celebrated salmon fisherman – has fallen prey to these criminals. Nicola said: “Lino has just turned 18 a month ago he’s totally distraught, which is the way we’re all feeling.
“They put him in the jail in Qatar Airport and he’s had so little food to eat that he’s lost a lot of weight. He is terrified. When I spoke to him the other day he was frantic and said he was going to take his own life and I can’t take the thought of that.”
She added: “Lino said that he was being controlled by a British man and that he was being told what to wear and what to eat.
“He said he was staying in a room with three other young guys and they were all in the same situation.
“I don’t know how he got into this mess but I know he was terrified and he phoned me a couple of weeks before he was due to fly home and told me he was terrified. He said they had a hold over him and he couldn’t get out of it. They said they would harm him and his family if he didn’t do as they said.”
Nicola expressed hope that Qatari officials would recognise he was coerced into the situation.
She added: “He is just a teenage boy, a baby, and he has no contacts in Thailand and he’d have no way of setting up any kind of drug deal.
“It’s so obvious that he has been exploited and abused by gangsters and I really just want him home.”
The family are staring down legal bills for a criminal trial in Doha that could reach £40,000 and have already been compelled to raise around £2500 to cover a solicitor in advance for his initial court appearance.
Nicola revealed her own mental health had been devastated by her son’s ordeal.
She said: “I’ve been a mess and prescribed medication just to keep me from having a breakdown. I’ve hardly slept a wink I just need him home.”
Lino is set for a court hearing on January 27, where he will argue that a British expat urged him to carry the substantial amount of cannabis. Lino’s sibling Robbie, 28, revealed he had jetted off to Thailand for a break with his partner after putting money aside.
He explained that Lino was returning via Dublin because of flight costs and availability.
He said: “He phoned me and I agreed to pick him up from Cairnryan to get him home for Christmas. But he never arrived off the plane and it was only later that I was told that he had been arrested.
“When he managed to get a phone and call me he said he’d been set up. I believe he’d been in Phuket and flow out via Bangkok, stopping in Doha. There had been no problem with his baggage getting from Thailand to Doha.
“He was taken into a room by police in Doha and they said they’d found stuff in his bag.
“They gave him the impression that he would not be detained, that they would just deport him. But that isn’t what panned out.
“He was put in a cell with 80 other guys at the airport and that was terrifying.”
Robbie revealed that the British Embassy in Doha had managed to see Lino on Wednesday after he’d been moved to the city’s Central Prison, where drug smugglers are typically housed.
He said: “The new prison had a smaller cell, with him and just a couple of other guys, and I think that settled him down a bit because he’d been terrified where he was.”
Robbie said that his brother had some convictions back home, but scoffed at the idea of him orchestrating a drug deal. He said: “He’s just a wee laddie who knows more about fishing than anything else. We just need to get him home.”
He added: “He’s just a wee laddie who knows more about fishing than anything else. We just need to get him home.”