Man found in possession of illegal narcotics sentenced to 10 years

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a July 2019 State Security Court (SSC) ruling sentencing a man to 10 years in prison after convicting him of possessing illegal narcotics in Maan last year.

The court declared the defendant guilty of buying 4,000 Captagon pills from a Syrian man and eight kilos of hashish on April 2, 2019 with the intent of selling the drugs in the local market, and handed him a 15-year prison term.

However, the SSC decided to reduce the sentence to 10 years in prison to “give the defendant a second chance in life”.

The court also ordered the defendant to pay JD10,000 in fines.

Court documents said the defendant bought the illegal narcotics from the Syrian man for JD2,500.

However, the defendant was arrested by Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) agents who had received a tip-off that he had illegal narcotics in his possession.

Upon searching the defendant, court papers said, the AND personnel found "Captagon pills in his clothes and other pills and hashish blocks hidden in his vehicle". 

The defendant confessed willingly to “buying the illegal narcotics and hiding the pills in his house to sell them to people in his area”, 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”.

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.

“It was clear to the court that the defendant confessed willingly to possessing the illegal drugs,” the higher court said.

The Court of Cassation judges presiding were Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zu’bi, Yassin Abdullat, Bassim Mubeidin and Nayef Samarat.