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A court in Cuba ordered sanctions of deprivation of liberty between 20 and 30 years for foreign and national citizens caught red-handed during an international drug trafficking operation, official sources reported.
According to a Cuban television news report, some 15 defendants, whose names were not revealed, were sentenced for the crimes of international drug trafficking, attack, illegal carrying and possession of weapons, among other charges.
In an oral and public trial, the Criminal Chamber of the provincial court of the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba found guilty a Cuban resident abroad - the main organizer of the operation - and other nationals and foreigners surprised by forces from the Ministry of Interior (Minint) of the Caribbean island.
The prosecutor's request considered the flagrancy of the act and the intention of the leader of the operation to introduce narcotics into the country through the coasts of the Santiago municipality of Guamá, in addition to trying to establish a logistical support base for subsequent drug landings.
The timely action of anti-drug units from several provinces of the country made it possible to dismantle a criminal chain that, based in Jamaica, sought to introduce and market the product in Cuban national territory, Minint officials explained.
They revealed that the activation of a ministerial plan with the bodies to combat this illicit activity in the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Granma, HolguĂn, Las Tunas, CamagĂĽey and Las Habana, managed to catch the criminals in the act.
In the operation, 300 pounds of marijuana, large sums of money, satellite phones and other means of communication, firearms, a false license plate of the vehicle used to transport the merchandise on Cuban soil, and a speedboat, among other means, were seized.
Various naval and land means were used during the Minint operation that dismantled the drug trafficking gang, Cuban anti-drug officers detailed.
Cuba maintains a severe criminal legal policy for the crime of drug trafficking, whose penal code provides for sanctions that range between four and 30 years of deprivation of liberty, perpetual punishment of freedom, or the death penalty.
(With information from Prensa Latina)