Of the six defendants who were in preventive detention and were released on the 15th, Slovenian Igor Jakovina and Brazilians Gabriel Carvalho, 39, and Fabrício Baía, 29, did not appear in court.
A police source stated there are “suspicions” that the two Brazilian men, allegedly linked to the Brazilian group Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), “have already left Portuguese territory.”
Present in the courtroom were Tunisian Ayari Chokri, 65, Brazilian Sérgio Júnior, 26, and Portuguese Edgar Teixeira, 48.
The six men are suspected of being part of an international drug trafficking network and were detained in March 2023, in Vale Paraíso, Albufeira, during a police operation where 1,200 kilograms of cocaine were seized inside a truck.
All the men were held in preventive detention in a Lisbon prison until the trial began on September 5, charged with aggravated drug trafficking and criminal association.
The release of the six suspects occurred because the maximum allowed period of preventive detention was exceeded, a measure that had been extended due to the case being classified as “especially complex,” considering the number of defendants and the highly organized nature of the crime.
In response to the unjustified absence of the three defendants, the court imposed a fine of two Accounting Units on each (each valued at 102 euros), as stipulated by law.
Despite the absences, the trial continued today with the questioning of two Judicial Police inspectors, who were called as witnesses by the Public Ministry and participated in the surveillance, tracking, and arrest operations of the defendants.
The next court session is scheduled for October 20 at 09:15.
