Trial in Feldkirch

Prison sentences for drug smuggling

The two defendants stood trial in Feldkirch on Wednesday.(Bild: Chantall Dorn)

An Austrian had provided a Bosnian with a specially prepared car to smuggle narcotics from Holland to Austria on a large scale. Now the two were made to pay the price.

Both were heavily in debt and both needed money. So the tempting offer to earn a few thousand by traveling to Holland came at just the right time. At least that is how the 38-year-old Bosnian, the main defendant in this case, describes the situation. However, he claims not to have known that the "cab service" involved drug driving. The case involves almost 20 kilograms of cannabis, one kilo of amphetamine and 1000 ecstasy tablets, which the Bosnian smuggled from Holland to Vorarlberg between May and July last year and passed on or resold.

I was in debt and needed money. I just wanted to earn some extra money with the trips to Holland. However, I didn't know that these trips were for the transportation of drugs.

Der Erstangeklagte vor Gericht

Providing my own car 
The drugs were transported across the border in several trips in specially prepared cars. This is where the second defendant, a 44-year-old Austrian with a migration background, comes into play. As a contributing offender, he had made his vehicle available to the first defendant. The two defendants were incriminated by the main witness, who gave very specific details about the case. In the end, however, the court did not consider one important detail to be proven - namely that the second defendant had personally dismantled the smuggled cannabis in a workshop and handed it over to the first defendant.

Nevertheless, both defendants were found guilty of drug trafficking. Judge Theo Rümmele sentenced the main offender to three and a half years in prison. In addition, a four-month suspended sentence from his most recent conviction was revoked. The Bosnian must also pay a forfeiture amount of 8,500 euros to the federal government. The second defendant gets off much lighter with a partially suspended sentence of 24 months, of which he will only have to serve eight months. The two sentences are not yet final.

The two men had come to the attention of the authorities in the course of lengthy investigations by the Feldkirch public prosecutor's office and on the basis of statements made by a dealer who had previously been kidnapped for drug debts.