British tourist jailed in north Cyprus for cannabis possession

A north Cyprus court on Thursday sentenced a British tourist to two months in prison having been convicted for the possession of cannabis.

The man named only as D.J.S appeared in front of a three-judge panel in court on Thursday.

The suspect who landed at Ercan airport was arrested at around 9:55am on July 26 after he caught the attention of a sniffer dog in the airport’s baggage reclaim hall .

A subsequent search of his suitcase found a total of three grams of cannabis inside.

He was taken to court held in detention since July July 31.

Delivering the judgement, the judge said the suspect came to the country for holiday and that the small amount of cannabis found in his suitcase was an indication that he had it in his possession for his own personal use and had no intent to supply or sell it on. 

On the other hand, the judge said, “drug crimes are serious crimes”, and for this reason, “deterrent and exemplary punishments must be handed down”.

As such, he was sentenced to two months in prison.