Court upholds 2019 Mafraq drug possession conviction

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a December 2019 State Security Court (SSC) ruling sentencing a man to 15 years in prison after convicting him of possessing illegal narcotics in Mafraq in March 2019.

The court declared the defendant guilty of possessing 209,000 Captagon pills on March 1 and handed him the maximum punishment. 

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

Court documents said the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) received a tip that the defendant was transporting illegal narcotics with the intent of selling the pills and set a police checkpoint in his neighbourhood.

When the defendant, who was driving a pickup truck along with two other men, approached the police checkpoint he refused to stop, court papers said.

“The defendant drove away at high speed while two men who were sitting in the back of the pickup truck started dumping the drugs during the police chase,” according to court documents.

The defendant’s truck got stuck in the mud and he was arrested by AND agents, the court added.

The agents collected two bags that were dumped from the vehicle during the chase and found the Captagon pills, the court added.

The defendant did not contest the SSC’s ruling at a higher court.

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 and the AND agent's testimony sealed his fate,” the higher court said.

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