The Judicial Court of Leiria sentenced six people to prison terms that can reach nine years for drug trafficking crimes. The sentences were applied within the scope of a case related to an international cocaine trafficking network.
The drugs were transported by sea in containers from South America. After arrival by sea, the substance was then redistributed by land to other European countries, functioning as a transit point for the drugs bound for the rest of the continent.
The quantity seized in 2024 as part of this operation is estimated to have been around 34.5 million euros. This value represents a significant portion of the trafficking proceeds that the network managed to circulate annually.
The authorities consider this to have been a well-structured operation with international ramifications, using maritime and land routes to make detection by the competent authorities more difficult.