Man jailed for selling narcotics to undercover agent

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld an August State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a drug dealer to over three years in prison after convicting him of selling JD5 in illegal narcotics to an undercover agent in April 2022.

The court declared the defendant guilty of obtaining illegal narcotics (Captagon pills) with the intent of selling the drugs to an undercover agent in Ruseifeh on April 2.

The SSC handed the defendant five years in prison for the offence, 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 month, in order to “give the defendant a second chance in life”.

Court documents said that the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) learned that 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 a Captagon pill in exchange for JD5,” the court documents said.

The defendant handed the AND officer the pill, and was kept under surveillance until his arrest on April 9, according to the court papers. 

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 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 Mohamoud Ebtoush, Nayef Samarat, Hammad Ghzawi, Qassem Dughmi and Mohammad Khashashneh.