Three Cleared of Drug Charges Due to Arrest Procedure Invalidity

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KUWAIT CITY, Jan 16: The Criminal Court acquitted three individuals who were accused of possessing narcotic drugs for trafficking and abuse, due to the invalidity of the arrest-and-search procedures and the invalidity of tracking and arresting them. According to the case files, the first lieutenant of the Drug Control General Department testified that his secret investigations revealed that the first defendant acquired narcotic substances for trafficking and abuse. The lieutenant then obtained a warrant from the Public Prosecution for arrest and inspection. To implement it, he went to Hawally near the Qadisiya Club, where the accused was present on the day of the incident. When he was searched, no contraband was found in his possession.

When the suspect was confronted during the investigation, he denied that he was trafficking in drugs but admitted that he uses hashish sometimes. He said he did not have any with him at the time of his arrest, and that he obtained hashish from his brother. The accused then gave the officer details about his brother who was arrested near the Shuwaikh Police Station. When searching him, the officer found hashish on him. He revealed that the hashish with him was meant for his use but he had some quantity in his residence in Khaitan, which he planned to sell. He also revealed that he obtained the hashish from an individual who works in a restaurant in Jahra. When the officer went to him, he found a laptop bag near him with large pieces of hashish inside.

During the court session, Lawyer Inaam Haidar, who represented the accused, argued that the arrest and search procedures were invalid, and the tracking and arrest of the accused were also invalid, because all of this occurred without obtaining permission from the Public Prosecution, due to which the subsequent procedures are also considered invalid. Based on this, she asked the court to acquit them all of the accusations leveled against them. Lawyer Haider said, based on the report of the incident officer, when he arrested the first suspect, he was informed that the suspect was using hashish, and therefore the accusation against the accused was based on suspicion and doubt.

This is especially true since no narcotic substances were found on him when he was searched, and his analysis did not indicate that he had taken any narcotic substances, which is enough to acquit. In the explanatory memo of its ruling, the court stated that the accusation against the defendants was invalid because the incident officer did not obtain permission from the concerned authority to pursue his leads. Also, the second accused was not in one of the cases that would allow the arresting officer to take that action legally. Therefore, the seizures that resulted from that invalid search were invalid, because it was based on invalid procedures.

By Jaber Al-Hamoud
Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff and Agencies

This news has been read 1589 times!