2 men handed jail terms for drug possession, trafficking

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation upheld a February State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing two drug dealers to prison terms of five and 10 years for possessing and trafficking illicit drugs. 

The court declared the defendants guilty of possessing 137,000 Captagon pills with the intent of selling them locally in December 2019. 

The primary defendant in the case received a 15-year prison term and JD15,000 in fines.

However, the court decided to reduce the prison term to 10 years and the fine to JD10,000 to give the defendant a “second chance in life”.

The second defendant was initially handed a 10-year prison term and JD10,000 in fines.

The SSC also decided to cut his jail sentence in half, and imposed a JD5,000 fine. 

Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) personnel were informed that the defendants were smuggling Captagon pills from Syria. 

“A force monitored the two defendants and arrested them on December 20 when they were in their vehicle in the area,” court documents said. 

Upon searching the vehicle, AND operatives found the Captagon pills hidden in bags and arrested the two men, the court added. 

The two defendants contested the interrogation procedures and stated that “the SSC failed to provide solid evidence to implicate them”. 

Nonetheless, the higher court sustained that the SSC followed proper procedures in the issuance of the sentences against the defendants. 

The Court of Cassation judges presiding were Mohammad Ibrahim, Nayef Samarat, Yassin Abdullat, Qassem Dughmi, and Hamad Ghzawi.