medical test had proved that both the accused were drug addicts

04:43 Qatar 0 Comments

TWO Asian expatriates have been sentenced to six months imprisonment following their conviction of possessing and using marijuana.
The criminal court of first instance, however, cleared one of them of the charge of trading in drugs “for lack of evidence”.
A medical test had proved that both the accused were drug addicts.
A total of 2.24gm of marijuana was seized from them but the court found no proof that it was used for trade purposes.
The court imposed a fine of QR10,000 against the two Sri Lankan convicts. Both of them have been in jail for nine months and so it is expected that they would be freed soon, a court source said.
According to the Qatari law, fines could be substituted according to the equation of QR100 for one day of imprisonment with a maximum of six months. In this case, a QR10,000 fine means 100 days of imprisonment.
Police had received information that the first accused, a 31-year-old Sri Lankan watchman in a private company, traded in the drug and an agent was asked to pretend that he was interested in purchasing marijuana for QR200.
Though the deal took place near a public telephone in the Mansoura area, police could not arrest the man as he fled the scene in a taxi.
However, he was arrested the next day, July 6, 2007, with the help of the same police agent.
The accused had in his pocket the QR50 banknote that he had received from the police agent. The bill was photographed earlier by the police.
The second accused, a 24-year-old Sri Lankan working as a cleaner, was caught in a police raid at his accommodation in Doha Jadeed following information provided by the first accused.
Lawyer, Abdul Hadi al-Marri, told Gulf Times that his clients would not appeal the verdict.