Alex Trelinski
FOUR people have been jailed and given massive fines after a plan to sail into Torrevieja with 2.4 tons of hashish went badly wrong.
The financial penalties totalled over €13 million at the men’s trial in Alicante.
The smuggling trip in February 2020 met a sudden end as the gang’s rented yacht sank due to the weight of the load which had a market value of €4,128,440.
The men were saved by Maritime Rescue some 15 miles out to sea off Cabo de Palos.
They were arrested by the Guardia Civil who recovered 86 packs of hashish resin tablets with an average purity of 31%.
Further inquiries into the smugglers uncovered a transport base inside a Santa Pola port warehouse.
Three inflatable boats were stored inside which were used to transport drugs from larger vessels at sea.
A repeat offender was jailed for six years for what the Alicante court described as a ‘high value crime of extreme seriousness due to using a boat’.
He was also fined over €8 million- double the market value of the hashish consignment.
A second man got an 18 month prison term and a €4.3 million fine.
The owner of the Santa Pola warehouse was sentenced to four years behind bars and slapped with an €890,000 penalty.
A fourth defendant worked for the warehouse boss and maintained the boats.
He was sentenced to two years in prison and received a €161,900 fine.
The Alicante court acquitted five others on the grounds of insufficient evidence.
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