Yesterday was held in the Sixth Section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas the trial against the nine members of a gang that was dedicated to buying, according to the conclusions of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, hashish in Morocco. The narcotic substance was received by two members of the criminal group in Tenerife who, later and under the order of the leader, transferred the drug to the island during 2016 and part of 2017. To transport the hashish to Gran Canaria, the defendants, according to the thesis of the public prosecution, camouflaged in a van “As if it were a shipment” since inside it there was also a pallet and cardboard boxes. National Police agents found three of the accused “Guarding” the vehicle in the vicinity of a Tenerife bar in which they hid 225 kilograms of cannabis resin that, on the black market, ‘would have had a value of about 40,000 euros ».
The criminal gang transported hashish from Tenerife to the capital camouflaged in vans
Once in the capital, the rest of the defendants were in charge of sales and distribution, one of them even used a bar he ran located in the Sports Pier to deliver the drug to both direct buyers and “contacts” who were they dealt with the “retail.” The agents made a search at a farm located in Icod de Los Vinos, Tenerife, on January 4, 2017 where they found 85.6 grams of cannabis resin “with an approximate value of 498 euros.” They also found 360 euros in cash, wrappers, 18 hashish tablets with a total of 734.55 grams of cannabis resin – “which would have had a value of 4301.24 euros” -. In the two homes of one of the defendants they obtained 5.81 kilograms of cannabis resin (with a value of 9,157 euros), a GPS device, three 9mm caliber cartridges and “two other semi-armored SB320s”, a brass knuckles and a dagger inside its case. In addition, one of the members of the criminal group traveled from Lanzarote to Gran Canaria and his luggage was “intercepted” when he arrived in Gando in which he carried 39 capsules containing 581.69 grams of heroin with a wealth of 6.88% and whose approximate illicit value is set at 10,000 euros.
The Prosecutor’s Office initially requested sentences ranging from four to six and a half years in prison and fines of up to 90,000 euros. What’s more, The case also included three other people who were finally acquitted yesterday after lack of evidence against them.. All agreed to reach an agreement with the Public Ministry that considered the mitigating of undue delays since the trial was suspended several times so that its celebration has taken four years. He also added the extenuating late confession.
The National Police found in the records about 60,000 euros in drugs and some pistol cartridges
With these modifications made yesterday, the prosecutor thus reduced the sentence of all the accused. For the gang leader and five other defendants required a sentence of two years and six months in prison for drug trafficking offenses that do not cause serious harm to health and participation in a criminal group and fines of 40,000 euros. While for the other three it was interested two years in jail and fines ranging from 500 to 10,000 euros for the crime of drug trafficking in a way that causes serious damage to health. The defense lawyers announced that they would request for their clients the suspension of the prison sentence and that they would not appeal the sentence.
