– It has been a question of serious crime that took place in different parts of the country and in an almost corporate-like structure where different people had different roles. The longest prison sentence exceeds the maximum sentence for particularly serious drug offences, but since the person is convicted of several other crimes, there is the possibility of exceeding that limit, says Åsa Hanna, councilor at Uppsala district court and the court’s chairman during the main hearing in a press release.
Uppsala district court sentences seven people for extremely serious drug offences, two people for serious drug offenses and one person for drug offences. Two of the convicts have also been convicted of other crimes, including one person for a particularly serious crime against the Act on Flammable and Explosive Goods.
When the trial began in May last year, 17 people were indicted, suspected of involvement in extensive drug trafficking. Among them a man in his 40s who, according to the police, acts as the leader of the so-called Gottsunda network, which is described as one of Sweden’s five largest criminal groups. He was arrested in Spain 1.5 years ago during the international operation “Trojan shield”.
The prosecutor had asked for 14 years in prison for particularly serious drug offenses for him.
Drugs in flower boxes
The organization is said to have imported large batches of narcotics, including through flower boxes, to Sweden between December 2020 and May 2021, which were then resold.
According to the police’s calculations, the drugs – cocaine, amphetamine, cannabis, crystal and tramadol – had a street value of SEK 110 million.
In the clip below: This is how Jale Poljarevius, head of intelligence, sees the Gottsunda network
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In one case, the prosecution failed to prove the connection between the defendant and the encrypted application services that the prosecution alleged the person used. That person has been acquitted.
– Several other defendants are also completely acquitted of crimes. This applies to people where the prosecutor did not claim that they used any encrypted communication service and the district court did not find that the investigation was sufficient for them to be convicted of a crime, says councilor Åsa Hanna in a comment.
The article is updated.
