Man handed 10-year sentence for attempted smuggling

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation upheld a July State Security Court (SSC) ruling sentencing a man to 10 years in prison after convicting him of attempting to smuggle illegal narcotics to a neighbouring country last year.

The court declared the defendant guilty of planting and attempting to smuggle marijuana to Saudi Arabia in October 2018 and handed him the maximum punishment.

The defendant was originally sentenced to 15 years in prison but the SSC decided to reduce the sentence to 10 years to “give the defendant a second chance in life”.

The SSC also ordered the defendant to pay JD10,000 in fines.

Court documents said that the defendant, who was arrested by Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) agents on October 22 after they received a tip that he was a drug dealer, had 40 marijuana plants in his house with the intent of smuggling them to Saudi Arabia.

“The defendant had succeeded in the past in smuggling marijuana plants to a neighbouring country by hiding them in bottles and stashing them in his trailer,” court papers said.

 The defendant confessed willingly and freely to “planting the illegal narcotics and smuggling them to a neighbouring country”, court documents said.

 The defendant did not contest the SSC’s ruling, while the prosecution office asked the higher court to uphold the sentence and fine imposed against him.

The higher court maintained that the SSC followed the right procedures in the issuance of the sentences against the defendant.

The Court of Cassation judges presiding were Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zu’bi, Yassin Abdullat, Saeed Mugheid and Nayef Samarat.