A Doha Criminal Court has sentenced a Sri Lankan expatriate to three years in jail and fined him QR 200,000 for dealing in drugs, local Arabic daily Arrayah reported yesterday.
The man would be deported on completing his sentence. He was caughtle trying to sell marijuana to an undercover police agent. The Drug Prevention Department of the Ministry of Interior (MoI) had received a tip-off about suspicious behavior by the accused.
An undercover agent asked him for the drugs and the accused told him that he would give him the marijuana for QR2,200 at a certain location. Eventually, the undercover policeman met the accused at the agreed location and the accused handed him a package containing the drug while the policeman handed him the money. All this took place while police personnel watched from a distance.
The accused was then arrested at which point he tried to throw the money on the ground but policemen caught him and searched his accommodation. They found about 1,583gm of marijuana, as later confirmed by the forensic evidence laboratory, and some scattered pieces of magazine papers used for folding, besides a scale believed to be used to weigh the drugs.
However, the accused denied all charges and pleaded innocence during investigation by the Public Prosecution. Ultimately, the court found him guilty and convicted him based on the testimony of the policemen and the quantity of illicit drugs found at his residence.
