Trial in Innsbruck

Prison sentence after dealing in a sheltered apartment

Drug deals are apparently now only very rarely carried out in the open air.

(Bild: Pressefoto Scharinger/Daniel Scharinger)

A 47-year-old man is now behind bars because he tolerated drug dealers in an apartment in Innsbruck that was made available to him by a social welfare association. The dealer himself was also sentenced.

The fact that drug addicts now rarely have to pick up their stash on a dark street corner - and thus from the eyes of potential observers - was demonstrated on Monday by a trial at the Innsbruck provincial court.

Tests cleverly tricked
The accused were a 33-year-old Moroccan and a native of Upper Austria (47). According to a court ruling, the latter was supposed to keep his hands off drugs if he didn't want to be committed to an institution. But he didn't! Regardless of regular tests, which he cleverly tricked, the 47-year-old continued to do coke.

I tolerated them being there.

Der Zweitangeklagte

He also made his supervised apartment, which a social association in Innsbruck had made available to him free of charge, available to the North African and presumably other dealers as a "sales apartment". "I tolerated them being there," the second defendant admitted to Judge Helga Moser and the lay assessors. The 33-year-old went in and out of his house almost every day and brought people with him. "When he was in a good mood, I was given a few grams of coke," the 47-year-old said. He received around 40 grams of cocaine in total from the Moroccan - either free of charge or for a fee.

The apartment was always clean
The caretakers did not notice that the apartment was being used as a drug transshipment point. Quite the opposite! Reports emphasized how clean the 47-year-old's apartment always was.

Austrian does not have to go to prison
The Moroccan was sentenced - not legally binding - to four years in prison for dealing 200 grams of cocaine, which the public prosecutor's office calculated to be a good thing. For providing the apartment, the Austrian was sentenced to 18 months in prison - six of them unconditional. However, he does not have to go to prison and his sentence was not revoked.