Man sentenced to over 7 years in jail for drug possession

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a November March State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a man to over seven years in prison after convicting him of possessing narcotics in Maan in December 2019.

The court declared the defendant guilty of preparing 177,000 Captagon pills with the help of five other men, who did not appeal their verdicts, with intent of smuggling the illegal narcotics to a neighbouring country.

The defendant, who was arrested on December 13, was handed a seven-and-a-half-years in prison and was ordered to pay JD5,000 in fines.

Court documents said that the six defendants decided to make quick cash by selling and dealing with illegal narcotics outside the Kingdom.

“The defendants bought the pills form a neighbouring country and stashed the illegal goods in a house in Maan,” court papers said.

The defendants promised to pay a driver of a truck JD250 in return for his service to smuggle the illegal goods to the neighbouring country, according to court papers.

“The defendants stashed the pills in 80 plastic bags and hid them in the body of the truck,” according to court papers.

However, the defendants were arrested by Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) agents at a gas station in Maan after receiving a tip-off that the group was planning to smuggle the illegal narcotics to a neighbouring country.

Upon searching the vehicle, court papers said, the AND personnel found "Captagon pills hidden inside its body". 

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 and storing the illegal drugs with the help of the other defendants,” the higher court said.

The Court of Cassation judges presiding were Mohammad Ibrahim, Majid Azab, Nayef Samarat, Hammad Ghzawi and Mohammad Khashashneh.