Man jailed for 15 years for drug smuggling attempt

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld an April State Security Court (SSC) ruling sentencing a man to 15 years in prison after convicting him of attempting to smuggle illicit drugs to Saudi Arabia in May 2019.

The court declared the defendant guilty of attempting to smuggle 1,275,000 Captagon pills to Saudi Arabia in a trailer and handed him a 15-year prison term. The SCC also ordered the defendant to pay JD10,000 in fines.

Court papers said the defendant wanted to make quick cash and decided along with other defendants, who did not appeal their verdicts, to smuggle illegal narcotics to Saudi Arabia.

On May 20, the defendant hid the illegal pills in a secret compartment of the trailer with the help of others, in an attempt to smuggle the drugs to the neighbouring country.

However, the group was arrested by the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) agents who received a tip-off about the four men wanting to smuggle the illegal narcotics to Saudi Arabia.

The defendant, through his three lawyers, contested the SSC’s ruling, charging that “he had no knowledge that the truck he was driving was loaded with illegal drugs”.

The defendant also contested the SSC’s ruling, stating that the court “failed to depend on solid evidence” when convicting him and “refused to hear some witnesses that the defendant wanted to present during his trial”.

Meanwhile, the SSC prosecution office asked the higher court to uphold the verdict because it was in accordance with the law.

The higher court ruled that the SSC followed the proper proceedings when sentencing the defendant. 

The Court of Cassation judges comprised Mohammad Ibrahim, Yassin Abdullat, Mohammad Khashashneh, Nayef Samarat, and Hamad Ghzawi.