Trial in Innsbruck

“King of cocaine” must spend eight years behind bars

Cobra officers and drug investigators arrested the three defendants on the terrace of the Innsbruck market hall the previous year.(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

Together with an accomplice, a local man (48) supplied numerous customers with large quantities of cocaine, mainly in Innsbruck. Now there was the "receipt" for this.

Three people took their places in the dock. The 48-year-old as the first defendant, the second defendant (55) and a former café manager as the third defendant.

Restaurant owner apparently knew nothing
This constellation came about because the cocaine deals between June 2022 and September 2023 in the café in the market hall came to an abrupt end with a Cobra operation. The owner of the café had - apparently unknowingly - been involved in handing over 100 grams of cocaine in a wooden wine crate. "I didn't know anything", the woman emphasized several times, and she was finally acquitted.

Now the trial took place in Innsbruck.(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

Dealing in very large quantities
The first defendant confessed but, like his helper, did not admit to the seven kilos charged, but in the verdict the panel of lay judges under Judge Heide Maria Paul still assumed that the quantities were very large.

Incorrect use can be fatal
"Cocaine can also lead to the death of the user if used incorrectly", emphasized the judge - and imposed eight years' unconditional imprisonment (plus 16 months of a revoked conditional sentence) and three years' imprisonment for the accomplice.

The panel of lay judges seemed to have followed the prosecutor, who had referred to the first defendant as the "king of cocaine". The sentences are not yet final.