Northern Spain
In court on Monday, the Briton accepted the facts of his arrival with 5 kilos of ecstasy (15,000 MDMA pills) and claimed the car he was driving belonged to a friend.
Jul 11, 2017 - 12:12 PM
The Briton caught with 5 kilos of MDMA in Santander port said ‘he didn’t known about the drugs’
In court on Monday, the Briton accepted the facts of his arrival with 5 kilos of ecstasy (15,000 MDMA pills) and claimed the car he was driving belonged to a friend.
Jul 11, 2017 - 12:12 PM
Said friend, had asked him to drive his car on the ferry from Plymouth to Santander and then to drive to Oporto in Portugal.
The accused, assisted by an interpreter, in the First Section of the Cantabria Provincial Court, where he was being questioned by the prosecutor, who maintained his petition for seven years in prison and a fine of 300,000 € and his lawyer who again requested his immediate release.
During the questioning in the chamber, the processed - on communicated provisional prison without bail - for the risk of flight since November 5, 2016 when he was arrested in Santander Port - as explained in the agreement of the facts, but has yet to rule on the requested sentence presented by the Public Ministry considering that no crime has been committed, given he was ‘ignorant’ of what was inside the SUV with trailer carrying the van where the drugs were hidden.
According to his version, both vehicles were owned by a friend, whom he had met at a party in June 2016, five months before the facts being judged.
According to his testimony, said friend called him by phone in October and asked if he would drive from the Great Britain to Portugal, via the ferry between Plymouth and Santander.
A compatriot ‘simply’ asked for a favour and assured he would pay all the costs related to his request - petrol accommodation, the ferry and his ticket home from Oporto.
The accused , who worked as a carpet cleaner was earning a high wage and accepted the request as his friend claimed to be ‘too busy’ to attend to the matter, and given he was on holiday he decided to accept.
He also thought to make the most of this opportunity to invite his girlfriend and the two children they have in common, but she was working and had no holiday time left.
Here he repeatedly claimed his innocence and noted just as well his family was not involved in this ‘position’ and this also indicated his ignorance about the drugs.
In the session, which has been set for sentence, three police agents also declared as witnesses who had intervened in the operation, one by video--conference from Algeciras.
Effectively, the agent responsible for customs off the ferry retained the suspect following information from the British Police in the framework of an anti-drug operation, a clear ‘tip off’ for the convoy carrying the van and the likelihood of its destination was Spain and maritime ferries were to be used.
With that data, the driver was stopped, and was surprised and uneasy and started talking in contradictions despite the ‘important linguistic barrier’ and admitted to the Police who detained him ‘we managed to understand each other’
In his judgement, his initial ‘nervousness’ served to ‘countersign’ the previous information that he could have known about the drugs when the convoy was searched in the Santander Maritime Station, supported by specialist canine unit from Madrid, given the first search was unfruitful.
With the help of the dogs and an ‘exhaustive search’ during longer then normal for such a large convoy, they found the drugs in ‘well-hidden’ and ‘camouflaged’ in small packets under the boot of the SUV.
It had been vacuumed packed and greased between them to ‘hide any odour escaping’ and hence this had been assembled by a specialist.
His first refusal to answer, before claiming he had arrived in Spain on holiday and then introduced the existence of the friend and his destination was Portugal by car and then to fly back to the UK - ‘he changed his declarations several times’ resumed the officer,
In agreement was the chief on the frontier post that day ‘I saw he was slightly nervous, and his contradictions’ he noted when he asked for his papers, and then asked more pertinent questions he noted ‘something strange was happening’
After the testimonies of the accused and the witnesses, the two parts elevated their main conclusions, the prosecutor maintained seven years in prison and the fine of 300,000 € as the author of a crime against public health, by transporting drugs into Spain.
The representative of the Public Ministry, given the seriousness of the accusations, said his only defence was his words ‘the drugs aren’t mine’ monitored for his ‘nervousness’ at the frontier control and with his contractions indicated he had ‘something to hide’
But, the lawyer for the processed claimed his client had been always ‘coherent’ from the moment of his first statement and claimed ‘anyone placed under questioning gets nervous’ - it was logical’ he sentenced.
He added the linguistic difficulties led to misunderstandings, and then said he would respect the judge’s ruling.
In his right to the last word, the accused insisted he did not dispute the facts, for which he apologised. But he didn’t understand the crime he was being accused of and emphasised had he known about the drugs he would never have reached Spain, remembering his family again.
The case is awaiting sentence
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The accused, assisted by an interpreter, in the First Section of the Cantabria Provincial Court, where he was being questioned by the prosecutor, who maintained his petition for seven years in prison and a fine of 300,000 € and his lawyer who again requested his immediate release.
During the questioning in the chamber, the processed - on communicated provisional prison without bail - for the risk of flight since November 5, 2016 when he was arrested in Santander Port - as explained in the agreement of the facts, but has yet to rule on the requested sentence presented by the Public Ministry considering that no crime has been committed, given he was ‘ignorant’ of what was inside the SUV with trailer carrying the van where the drugs were hidden.
According to his version, both vehicles were owned by a friend, whom he had met at a party in June 2016, five months before the facts being judged.
According to his testimony, said friend called him by phone in October and asked if he would drive from the Great Britain to Portugal, via the ferry between Plymouth and Santander.
A compatriot ‘simply’ asked for a favour and assured he would pay all the costs related to his request - petrol accommodation, the ferry and his ticket home from Oporto.
The accused , who worked as a carpet cleaner was earning a high wage and accepted the request as his friend claimed to be ‘too busy’ to attend to the matter, and given he was on holiday he decided to accept.
He also thought to make the most of this opportunity to invite his girlfriend and the two children they have in common, but she was working and had no holiday time left.
Here he repeatedly claimed his innocence and noted just as well his family was not involved in this ‘position’ and this also indicated his ignorance about the drugs.
In the session, which has been set for sentence, three police agents also declared as witnesses who had intervened in the operation, one by video--conference from Algeciras.
Effectively, the agent responsible for customs off the ferry retained the suspect following information from the British Police in the framework of an anti-drug operation, a clear ‘tip off’ for the convoy carrying the van and the likelihood of its destination was Spain and maritime ferries were to be used.
With that data, the driver was stopped, and was surprised and uneasy and started talking in contradictions despite the ‘important linguistic barrier’ and admitted to the Police who detained him ‘we managed to understand each other’
In his judgement, his initial ‘nervousness’ served to ‘countersign’ the previous information that he could have known about the drugs when the convoy was searched in the Santander Maritime Station, supported by specialist canine unit from Madrid, given the first search was unfruitful.
With the help of the dogs and an ‘exhaustive search’ during longer then normal for such a large convoy, they found the drugs in ‘well-hidden’ and ‘camouflaged’ in small packets under the boot of the SUV.
It had been vacuumed packed and greased between them to ‘hide any odour escaping’ and hence this had been assembled by a specialist.
His first refusal to answer, before claiming he had arrived in Spain on holiday and then introduced the existence of the friend and his destination was Portugal by car and then to fly back to the UK - ‘he changed his declarations several times’ resumed the officer,
In agreement was the chief on the frontier post that day ‘I saw he was slightly nervous, and his contradictions’ he noted when he asked for his papers, and then asked more pertinent questions he noted ‘something strange was happening’
After the testimonies of the accused and the witnesses, the two parts elevated their main conclusions, the prosecutor maintained seven years in prison and the fine of 300,000 € as the author of a crime against public health, by transporting drugs into Spain.
The representative of the Public Ministry, given the seriousness of the accusations, said his only defence was his words ‘the drugs aren’t mine’ monitored for his ‘nervousness’ at the frontier control and with his contractions indicated he had ‘something to hide’
But, the lawyer for the processed claimed his client had been always ‘coherent’ from the moment of his first statement and claimed ‘anyone placed under questioning gets nervous’ - it was logical’ he sentenced.
He added the linguistic difficulties led to misunderstandings, and then said he would respect the judge’s ruling.
In his right to the last word, the accused insisted he did not dispute the facts, for which he apologised. But he didn’t understand the crime he was being accused of and emphasised had he known about the drugs he would never have reached Spain, remembering his family again.
The case is awaiting sentence
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