The sentencing has been postponed to July 8 at 1:45 PM due to a “non-substantial alteration of facts,” stated the president of the collective.
Addressing the defendants present (some of whom are in custody), the president of the collective explained that the Coimbra Court believes the evidence presented “does not fully support the accusation” in a lengthy case involving approximately 300 facts, allowing time for the defense to address the amendments made.
The case focuses on a group of nine defendants suspected of drug trafficking (mainly cocaine and cannabis) in Lousã, Vila Nova de Poiares, Miranda do Corvo, in the Coimbra district, and neighboring municipalities between 2021 and 2023.
During the first session, eight of the nine defendants (one suspect was absent) chose not to make any statements in a hearing where GNR officers admitted to difficulties in investigating the network’s dynamics.
The group, primarily composed of men in their 20s, allegedly had individuals with defined roles and a determined hierarchical structure, suspected of generating at least 250,000 euros from the activity.
In a roughly 100-page indictment accessed by Lusa, the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) explains that the group was initially led by a 25-year-old, who supposedly structured the organization with a clear hierarchy and defined tasks, involving individuals who were already autonomously participating in trafficking.
Surrounded by two close associates, the leader reportedly designed an organization aiming to evade authorities’ attention, regularly changing residences and drug hideouts, frequently swapping mobile phones, and using third-party cars for trips to Porto to purchase drugs.
The indictment also describes a leadership dispute within the organization after the suspected leader was arrested in 2022, with several changes in leadership and operation modes until it was dismantled in July 2023 following a series of arrests and seizures.
