AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a State Security Court (SSC) ruling sentencing a man to 10 years in prison after convicting him of storing a large quantity of illegal narcotics in Mafraq governorate in March 2023.

 

The SSC declared the defendant guilty of possessing large quantities of Hashish and Captagon pills at his home in Mafraq on March 29.

 

The SSC handed defendant Abdul Aziz A., a 15-year prison term for the charges and ordered him to pay JD10,000 in fines.

 

However, the court decided to reduce the sentence to 10 years in prison while maintaining the JD10,000 “to give the defendant a second chance in life”.

 

Court documents said Abdul Aziz A. and two other defendants, who did not appeal their 15-year verdicts, decided to earn quick cash by selling illegal narcotics in the local market.

 

“The two defendants stored 60 kilogrammes of Hashish and 140,000 Captagon pills at Abdul Aziz A.’s house,” court papers said.

 

The Anti-Narcotics department (AND) received a tip about the stored illicit drugs at the defendant’s house and decided to raid the premises, according to court papers.

 

 “The three defendants were arrested and AND agents seized a large quantity of illicit drugs,” court papers added.

 

The defendant contested the SSC’s ruling through his lawyer, who argued that “legal errors were committed during the investigation process”.

 

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 storing the illegal drugs with the intent of selling them in the local market,” the higher court said.

 

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