Drug dealer in possession of 1kg hashish, 1,000 Captagon pills handed 2 years

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a February State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a drug dealer to two years in prison after convicting him of possessing illegal narcotics in Madaba in July of last year.

The court declared the defendant guilty of obtaining over one kilogramme of hashish and around 1,000 Captagon pills on July 27 with the intention of selling the drugs locally.

The SSC handed the defendant a three-year prison term for the offence of possessing illegal narcotics and JD3,000 in fines.

However, the court decided to reduce the sentence to two years, and the fine to JD2,000, to give the defendant "a second chance".

Court documents said the defendant, along with two other men, who were convicted of the same charges but did not appeal their verdicts, were “known drug dealers and abusers”.

“The three men wanted to make quick cash, and were driving from Madaba to Sahab in Amman to buy some illegal drugs,” the court documents stated.

The Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) had knowledge of their plans and followed their vehicle, the court documents added.

“When the AND force attempted to pull them over, they sped off with the vehicle and threw a bag from the window,” the court documents said.

The vehicle crashed after hitting a road divider and the three men were arrested, the court documents maintained.

Upon searching the men, AND agents found “illegal drugs in their possession”, the court documents said.

The defendant contested the SSC’s ruling through his lawyer, who argued that the court “did not provide solid evidence to implicate his client”.

“My client never confessed to possessing illegal narcotics and pleaded not guilty to the charges. Therefore, he should be declared innocent,” the lawyer argued.

Meanwhile, the SSC prosecution office asked the higher court to uphold the sentence and the fine imposed on the defendant.

The higher court maintained that the SSC had followed the proper procedures in issuing the sentences against the defendant.

The Court of Cassation judges presiding were Mohammad Ibrahim, Majid Azab, Hayel Amr, Fawzi Nahar and Qassem Dughmi.