The National High Court has agreed to reduce the Public Prosecutor's Office's prison requests from 11 years to 9.5 in one case and from 10 to 9 years and one day in the others, for ten crew members of a ship with three tons of cocaine seized 130 miles off Lanzarote and brought to the port of Arrecife on October 5, 2024.
For each of them, the Public Prosecutor's Office's request to impose a fine of 99.1 million, corresponding to the value of the seized drug, and an order for expulsion from the European Union for ten years once they have served their sentence, as they are non-EU citizens, is maintained.
The reason the Appeals Chamber opted to reduce the sentences requested by the Public Prosecutor's Office is that it could not be proven that the detainees formed a stable international criminal organization.
All this despite other requirements being met, such as there being more than three people and the purpose being the commercialization of cocaine.
Customs Surveillance, the Civil Guard, and the National Police, after exchanging information within the 'Pascal-Lino operation' jointly with French Customs, became aware that a 71-meter-long vessel flying a Tanzanian flag was carrying a significant amount of cocaine.
The ship with ten crew members left Turkey bound for Casablanca
In June 2024, the ship with ten crew members departed from Turkey bound for Casablanca, Sierra Leone, and Guinea Bissau without having carried out any loading tasks along the route.
After leaving the last port on September 22 without declaring the next destination, the vessel made certain maneuvers and finally headed to Alexandria, so that at some point during the journey they loaded three tons of cocaine with the intention of introducing it into Europe.
After requesting permission from Tanzania, the boarding took place near Lanzarote, and upon detecting the existence of suspicious packages, it was taken to the port of Arrecife, where the quantity of seized drugs was confirmed, with a value of 99.1 million and an average purity of 81%.
At the time of the arrest, one of the crew members was found to have slightly over 4,000 euros, and all of them were arrested before reaching Lanzarote.
Before the National Court, they alleged that the data that allowed the investigation of the ship and its cargo were not disclosed, which the Court considered appropriate in order to guarantee the success of the operation.
To which would be added the fact that the accused do not have to know all the actions taken when there is international cooperation.
The legality of the boarding is also upheld by having the permission of the Government of Tanzania, to which country the vessel belonged, and that in any case not having its permission would not affect the rights of the accused, but rather the relations between the countries.
The Court believes that there were sufficient indications "about the illegality of the cargo transported, composed of substances that cause significant harm to health, of extreme seriousness because the quantity seized is notably higher than that considered to be of notorious importance."
It was proven that one of the accused was the captain, and therefore his prison sentence was longer; another said he had taken the ship to go to Holland from Guinea because there was no direct flight.
One more alleged that he had not been allowed to prepare his defense, and all of them stated that they were unaware of the cargo they were carrying and that a person with a submachine gun forced them to participate in the operation, for which they pleaded the mitigating circumstance of "insurmountable fear."
Allegations that were rejected in their entirety except for the accusation of forming a criminal organization.