Palma Mallorca court

Some of the accused in court on Tuesday. | Alejandro Sepúlveda

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma01/12/2020 19:20
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At the Provincial Court in Palma on Tuesday, nine of eleven people accused of being members of a drug trafficking gang accepted sentences totalling 28 years and 6,000 euro fines. These nine had reached agreement with the prosecution service, which had initially called for sentences of 103 years and fines totalling 7.7 million euros.

During the trial, charges against one of the eleven were withdrawn, while the alleged ringleader did not accept an agreement with the prosecution, maintaining that he was innocent. He faces eight years in prison and a fine of 700,000 euros. The prosecution has identified him as the leader of the drug network that was introducing drugs to Mallorca, mainly cocaine, from the mainland.

He is said to have used various contacts for transporting drugs inside cars, which had been camouflaged to hide the drugs. His defence argued that phone tapping by investigators had violated his fundamental rights. For this reason, acquittal was requested.

The case concerned a gang that was organised from a bar in Palma's Pere Garau district. This acted as the "office" for the leaders. The network operated from 2016 to 2017 and was dismantled by a National Police operation. Several of the defendants, four of whom had previous records, admitted to being drug users.