Man sentenced to 3 years in jail for drug possession

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

The court declared the defendant guilty of obtaining over one kilogramme of Hashish and around 1,000 Captagon pills on February 10 with the intent of selling the drugs in the local market.

The SSC handed the defendant a three-year prison term for the offence of possessing illegal narcotics.

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 via WhatsApp application and asked him for a stash of illegal drugs in return for JD600,” court documents said.

The two agreed that if the drugs’ quality was good “the undercover agent would buy more from him”.

When the two met, AND agents immediately arrested the suspect, court papers added.

Upon searching the defendant, court papers said, AND personnel found "Captagon pills, hashish cigarettes and other kinds of illegal narcotics on him". 

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, Ahmad Qatawneh, Saeed Mugheid, Hammad Ghzawi and Nayef Samarat.