By Adnan Al-Shabrawi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — The Jeddah Criminal Court has spared a drug trafficker from getting under the sword because of his old age. Instead, the culprit was awarded seven years’ imprisonment, a travel ban ban for the same period and a fine of SR100,000.

The sentence was approved by the Court of Appeals and has thus cannot be contested.

The attorney general has pled for capital punishment for the man because he was a known trafficker with a previous sinister track record.

The court said it did not opt for the death sentence because the defendant had crossed the age of 60 and that the quantity of drugs seized from him was extremely, little not exceeding four amphetamine pills.

The sentence also included confiscating and selling the mobile phone he was using in his crime and depositing its value at the account of the Directorate General to Combat Drugs at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA).

The court did not identify the trafficker but said he regretted his action and that he was extremely sorry he was caught while trafficking drugs.

The sentence also included 700 whip lashes in total, 50 at a time every month.

The old man was caught in an ambush carried out by the drug combating police.

According to the Saudi law, the trafficker will be imprisoned for two to 15 years for the first time and executed if caught trafficking for the second time.