A Saudi Arabian prince Nayef Bin Fawaz al Chaalan, 53, was on Wednesday sentenced in absence for 10- year jail by a Bobigny court in northeastern suburb of Paris for his involvement in a major cocaine trafficking in 1999.

Nine other accused persons were handed jail terms ranging from 4 to 10 years. The Saudi prince, who is reputed to be Francophile and has denied any implication in the matter, together with his eight foreign accomplices, was permanently banned from entering France.

Prince al Chaalan, who was absent during the trial and sentencing, was found guilty of "illegal importation of narcotics, " "complicity in transportation, possessing and supplying narcotics" and "associating with criminals."

He was accused, on the strength of evidence given by reformed Colombian informers, of having imported two tons of cocaine to France. The drug haul was said to have been smuggled into the country concealed in the prince's luggage aboard his private Boeing 727 in the night of May 15 to May 16, 1999, through Bourget airport in Paris.

Source: Xinhua