Cassation Court upholds over 3-year sentence for drug dealer

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a September 2023 State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a drug dealer to over three years in prison after convicting him of possessing illegal narcotics in Zarqa.

The court declared the defendant guilty of obtaining illegal narcotics with the intent of selling the drugs to an undercover officer on two different occasions in May 2022 and January 2023.

The SSC handed the defendant five years in prison for the offence of possessing illegal narcotics and ordered him to pay JD5,000 in fines.

However, the court decided to reduce the fine to JD3,500 and the prison term to three years and four months in prison to give the defendant a second chance in life.

Court documents said the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) learnt the defendant was in possession of illegal narcotics and sent one of its agents to pose as a buyer.

“The AND agent got in touch with the defendant and asked him for four Captagon pills in return for JD8,” court documents said.

When the two met, the AND agent and the defendant completed the exchange and the latter left, court papers added.

The defendant remained under surveillance by law enforcement officers and was contacted again in January to deliver a small stash of Hashish in return for JD10, court transcripts added.

When the undercover officer and the defendant met, the court maintained, he was immediately arrested.

Upon searching his vehicle, the court added, AND officers found 31 Captagon pills.

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

The lawyer argued that “the law-enforcement agencies committed several violations when arresting and interrogating my 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 sentence against the defendant.

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

The Court of Cassation judges were Yassin Abdullat, Nayef Samarat, Mohammad Khashashneh, Qassem Dughmi and Hammad Ghzawi.