On Friday, a 48-year-old man from Vorarlberg was sentenced to four and a half years in prison by the Feldkirch Regional Court for trafficking in cocaine. Actually, he wanted to go to the altar in July.
The suspect, who was convicted of membership of a drug gang, only had his ankle monitor removed in November. Now an old drug story has caught up with him again and landed him another four and a half years in prison.
The reason for this is the evaluation results of the crypto mobile phones that were seized by the police during a major raid four years ago. While the ‘big boss’ of the cocaine gang, who lived in Switzerland at the time, managed to go into hiding in his home country of Bosnia, other members of the association were attacked – the Austrian legal system imposed several prison sentences of several years.
Large-scale cocaine trafficking
The suspect was also prosecuted, who at the time was almost morbidly addicted to cocaine, who had acted as a simple drug courier in the criminal network and had been sentenced to three years in prison for passing on approximately two kilos of cocaine. After assessing all crypto mobiles, the Public Prosecution Service now claims that the man obtained and passed on a total of five kilos of cocaine between the autumn of 2020 and the spring of 2022. This is an amount for which the legislature provides for a prison sentence of up to 15 years upon conviction.
From drug addict to family man
Lawyer Bernd Widerin describes the fact that the 48-year-old has now given up drugs after successful therapy, has a regular job and has fully focused on his family as a ‘model example of resocialization’.
However, the legal representative’s wish that his client be spared prison because of this remarkable reform does not come true. The chairman of the jury senate, Alexander Wehinger, instead sentenced the Oberlander, who fully confessed, to an additional sentence of four and a half years and to pay a forfeiture amount to the Austrian state in the amount of 294,000 euros. Particularly bitter: the suspect actually wanted to get married in July. The defense has already announced that it will appeal the verdict.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
