The six defendants who were being held in preventive detention at a Lisbon prison were released last Monday.
The six men, aged between 24 and 65, of Brazilian, Slovenian, Tunisian, and Portuguese nationality, began their trial on September 5 at the Portimão Court. The second session is scheduled for Monday at 1:45 p.m.
The case is classified as “especially complex”, prompting an extension of the typical maximum preventive detention periods until last Monday, due to the number of defendants and the highly organized nature of the crime.
The defendants are accused of aggravated drug trafficking and criminal association. They are suspected of belonging to an international network and were arrested in March 2023, in Albufeira, during a police operation, while transporting 1,200 kilograms of cocaine in a truck.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) believes there is evidence that the detainees are part of a criminal organization that transports large quantities of cocaine by sea from South America, where it is produced, to Europe, entering through Portugal.
At the beginning of the trial, the defense criticized the investigation’s development and the evidence gathered and validated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, arguing that 80% of the crime was committed by the Judiciary Police (PJ), using a covert ‘agent’.
In an introductory note, the MP acknowledged the prominence of covert evidence in the case, asserting that such actions were judicially authorized and monitored, and the evidence legally obtained, arguing it involved highly organized crime.
During the first session, the court only heard the defendant Ayari Mohamed Chokri, 65, who denied being part of a drug-trafficking network, and a Judiciary Police inspector involved in surveillance operations, tracking the defendants’ movements in Albufeira, Quarteira, Lisbon, and Fátima.
In the operation conducted by the PJ, besides the drug, a heavy-duty vehicle used to transport the cocaine, communication equipment, large sums of money, documents, and other items were seized.
The investigation was led by the Central Department for Investigation and Penal Action (DCIAP) in Lisbon, in cooperation with international police forces.
