The Third Section of the Provincial Court of Seville has sentenced each of the eleven accused, including a civil guard and two national police officers, to seven years and six months in prison for introducing 367 kilos of cocaine from Colombia and hidden into Spain. in a container.
In the ruling, dated April 11 and notified this Friday to the parties appearing in the case, the court condemns the eleven defendants, seven of whom have been in provisional prison for these events since September 15, 2022, as perpetrators responsible for a completed crime against public health in the form of drug trafficking, the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA) has reported.
The ruling considers it proven that the accused "are recipients, at least mediate, of the narcotic substance and have full availability of it" and imposes on all of them the same penalty of seven and a half years in prison and a fine of 45 million euros. since the participation of each one “is rigorously equivalent”, while, in the trial, the Prosecutor's Office requested eight years in prison for the accused and the payment of a fine of 45 million.
The ruling considers it proven that in an investigation by the National Prosecutor's Office of Colombia, a possible shipment of cocaine to Spain by an organization investigated there was detected, which generated a request for cooperation to the Special Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office of the National Court, which opened investigation proceedings. investigation.
The shipment was made on August 19, 2022 from a Colombian port to Malaga via a container on a ship with declared legal merchandise of pineapples, which arrived on September 7, 2022 at the Malaga port. The inspection at the port detected a white powder that tested positive for cocaine, the cargo was placed again and the container was kept in the terminal until its collection "with due surveillance", ready for customs procedures and waiting for the recipient. the court continues.
According to the sentence, the convicts, “for the purpose of enrichment and distribution of narcotics,” carried out a series of actions, leaving the port by truck towards Dos Hermanas (Seville), “being discreetly followed by camouflaged National Police agents.”
During the truck's journey, a vehicle was detected in which the two convicted police officers and a third defendant were traveling, who "carried out custody of the truck, controlling the cars in the parking lot and the people in the place."
After unloading the legal merchandise from the container in a Dos Hermanas warehouse, both vehicles entered a warehouse in Carrión de los Céspedes (Seville), where the entire container was placed, and “given the danger of the drugs disappearing or hiding” , the guarding agents intervened and detained those who were at the scene, according to the ruling.
The agents seized 367,806.85 grams of cocaine with an average purity of 79.12 percent and a value in the illicit market of more than 14,453,000 euros in wholesale, more than 37,936,000 in retail and more than 88,851,000 for sale per dose.
The sentence in the case is not final and an appeal can be filed against it before the Civil and Criminal Chamber of the TSJA.
