Man jailed for 3 years after selling narcotics to undercover officer

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a May 2022 State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a man to over three years in prison after convicting him of selling illegal narcotics to an undercover law enforcement officer in June 2021.

The court declared the defendant guilty of obtaining an unspecified quantity of hashish, an illegal narcotic, with the intent of selling the drugs to an undercover agent on June 12.

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 shortened the prison term to three years and four months in order to give the defendant “a second chance in life”.

According to court documents, the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) learned that the defendant was in possession of illegal narcotics, and placed him under surveillance.

The law enforcement agency tasked one of its officers to contact the defendant and ask for illegal narcotics. 

When the two eventually met in person, the defendant was frisked and arrested, the court papers added.

“AND agents found a small stash of illegal narcotics in the defendant’s possession,” the court papers 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 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,” the higher court said.

The Court of Cassation judges presiding were Mohmmad Ibrahim, Fawzi Nahar, Majid Azab, Qasssem Dughmi and Mohammad Shreiri.