Five drug traffickers in the Canary Islands received 17 years in prison: the court rejected the appeal.
In the Canary Islands, five drug dealers have been sentenced to 17 years in prison and fined for selling cocaine, crack, heroin, and marijuana from a house on the island of La Palma.
In the Canary Islands, specifically on the island of La Palma, five people have been convicted of drug trafficking. The High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) upheld the verdict: in total, they will receive 17 years in prison. Although the prosecution had requested 25 years.
The court also reduced the amount of the fine. Instead of 105,000 euros, as demanded by the prosecution, each of them must pay 2,525 euros. The court took into account that some of the convicts have drug addictions. In addition, all five received 1.5 years in prison for participating in a criminal group.
Earlier, the court in Santa Cruz de Tenerife established that these people were selling cocaine, crack, heroin, and marijuana from a house in Tazacorte. Police detained buyers from all over the island who came there for drugs.
One of the convicts coordinated the activities, stored drugs, and negotiated sales. Another grew marijuana at home, and the rest were involved in distribution.
The convicts filed an appeal, claiming that the wiretapping of their phones was illegal, and therefore the evidence was invalid. They said that one of them began to be wiretapped even before they received a court order.
But the court replied that at that time there was already enough evidence of criminal activity, so the wiretapping was justified.
"The fact that the investigation against one of the accused began with a conversation legally intercepted from another does not automatically invalidate it," the TSJC noted.
The court also took into account the results of searches in the homes of the convicts. Drugs, equipment for packaging them, mobile phones, and money were found there.
In particular, the following were seized:
- 14 grams of cocaine (worth 891 euros)
- 4 kilograms of marijuana (worth 8,600 euros)
- 81 grams of hashish (worth 500 euros)
- 2 grams of heroin (worth 116 euros)
- almost 4,000 euros in cash
- tools for cutting and distributing drugs
- a car and two motorcycles.