Walter Finch
SPAIN’s largest ever drug trafficking trial was nearly derailed at the end of its first week after one of the defendants threatened his own lawyer.
During a recess on Friday, one of the 157 defendants in the dock for trafficking hashish in the Campo de Gibraltar told his own court-appointed lawyer he would ‘get him in the street.’
The threat, which was made in front of a host of prosecutors, was so intimidating that the lawyer immediately resigned from the case and even required medical attention.
As a result, the judge suspended proceedings while a replacement counsel was sought amid fears the delay could last days or weeks.
However, the other defence lawyers agreed to fill in the gap left by their departed colleague and the trial was able to resume after just one hour’s delay.
The mega-trial into the activities of ‘Los Castañas’ gang, lead by the Tejon brothers, is being held in Algeciras and is expected to last at least three months.
The gang is thought to control 70% of the hash trade between Spain and Morocco and was reputed to be earning €400,000 a week.
The rest of the hash was moved into Spain by Abdellah el Haj, also known as the ‘Messi of Hashish’.
Los Castañas had made La Linea their base of operations along with six independent gangs who worked with them.
With their ill-gotten millions they owned luxury properties, travelled to Cuba and regularly visited El Bernabeu to watch El Clasico.
They were also reputed to have thrown wild parties with drugs, alcohol and prostitutes at which they allegedly paid three serving members of the Guardia Civil to attend.
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