Doha
A Doha Criminal Court has sentenced a GCC citizen to three years in jail and fined QR200,000 for illicit drug possession and trade, local Arabic daily Arrayah reported.
An accomplice, another GCC national, was also sentenced to six months in jail and fined QR20,000 for drug possession. But he was cleared of drug dealing.
The two convicts were in their vehicles when a police patrol suspected their behaviour. When the patrol vehicle approached their vehicle, one of the convicts threw a plastic bag out into the compound of a neighbouring house and the other tried to run away.
A police officer searched the vehicle of the convicts and found a bag with six pieces of a dark coloured substance, weighing a total of 612gms. The substance was later identified as hashish. A sum of QR22,000 was also recovered.
During the investigation, the defendant denied trading in illicit drugs and said that he got the drugs from an Asian man for QR2,500 for his personal consumption.
He also admitted that he knew that man from a previous stint in jail. The second convict admitted drug taking but denied dealing in drugs, the daily added.
