Five of the defendants accused of introducing more than 400 kilos of cocaine in Lanzarote, through a boat that arrived in La Santa in 2017, have been convicted by the Sixth Section of the Provincial Court, which has acquitted the sixth defendant in the case, José Miguel López.
With respect to those convicted, the Court has imposed sentences of nine years and one day in prison on four of the defendants for a crime against public health, Roberto Hernández, Daniel Alejandro Arrocha, Omar Romero and Cristóbal Betancor, and a sentence of 11 years, nine months and one day in prison to Sergio Andrés Aguiar, who in his case also adds a continued crime of falsification of an official document.
All of them must also pay a fine of 47.3 million euros. In the case of Sergio Andrés Aguiar, he must also pay another 720 euros for the second crime.
Three of the convicted confessed during the trial
Three of the defendants confessed to the facts during the trial, which was held in July, and during the same they already knew their sentences, obtaining a reduction in them for their confession and also because the Public Prosecutor's Office withdrew the accusation of belonging to a criminal group against the six defendants
One of the defendants who confessed was Roberto Hernández, who acknowledged being the ringleader of the organization and who from Lanzarote was in charge of planning operations to acquire the drug in America, as well as organizing its transport and final distribution on the island.
For his part, Daniel Alejandro Arrocha confessed that he had carried out work to prepare the Florida II sailboat, in which he later traveled to America with Sergio Andrés Aguiar -who was the third to acknowledge the facts-, where they introduced the drug and returned to Lanzarote.
As for the other three defendants, they defended their innocence during the trial, but the Court has only acquitted José Miguel López, who in the oral hearing stated that he had only made some "reforms on the outside of the deck" of the sailboat. "I didn't know about the drug nor have I participated at any time," he said.
As for Cristóbal Betancor, the Prosecutor's Office considered that he was the skipper of the sailboat upon arrival in Lanzarote and requested 12 years and six months in prison, the same sentence that he requested for Omar Romero, who had been arrested during the unloading of the drug. In both cases, although they denied the facts, the Sixth Section of the Court has imposed the same sentence as those who confessed.
