Drug dealer sentenced to one year in prison

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a November State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a drug dealer to over one year in prison after convicting him of possessing illegal narcotics in Madaba in August 2022.

The court declared the defendant guilty of obtaining illegal narcotics (Captagon pills) on August 11 for personal use.

The defendant was handed a 15-month prison term by the SSC and was ordered to pay JD1,000 in fines.

Court documents said the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) learnt the defendant was in possession of illegal narcotics and monitored his movements.

“The law-enforcement agency learnt that he was leaving from Theban to Madaba and sent one of its agents to intercept him,” the court documents said.

The AND agent pulled the defendant’s vehicle over and upon searching it “he found 50 Captagon pills”, the court papers added.

“A mobile belonging to the defendant was also seized and AND agents found incriminating messages between the defendant and individuals who were interested in buying the illegal pills,” the court papers added.

The defendant contested the SSC’s ruling through his lawyer, who argued that the court “did not provide solid evidence to implicate his client”.

“My client possessed a small amount of Captagon pills, which were for personal use and he was not intending to sell any illicit drugs in the local market,” the lawyer argued.

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 for his personal use,” the higher court said.

The Cassation Court bench comprised judges Mahmoud Ebtoush, Nayef Samarat, Hammad Ghzawi, Qassem Dughmi and Mohammad Khashashneh.