Three hemp traders given suspended terms over 550 kg in Lugano
The Lugano criminal court on 8 November 2007 gave three men suspended prison terms of 15 to 20 months for trafficking at least 550 kilograms of dried hemp flowers in 2002 and 2003, a case built on the Operation Indoor investigations.
Three men who ran a Ticino hemp business were convicted of aggravatednarcoticstrafficking as a profession for selling, growing, transporting and holding at least 550 kilograms of dried hemp flowers between July 2002 and 5 June 2003.[1]Prosecutors put the turnover at about 1.35 million francs and the profit at over 360,000 francs, including four documented sales totalling about 308 kilograms in early 2003.[1]All three had spent time in pre-trial detention in June 2003.[1]
Suspended terms
On 8 November 2007 the Lugano criminal court sentenced them to 20, 18 and 15 months in prison respectively, minus time served, and suspended all three terms with a two-year probation period.[1]It acquitted two of them on one minor count and ordered all seized property confiscated.[1]The case grew out of Operation Indoor, the 2003 Ticino crackdown in which police seized about 198,000 plants and jailed about 130 people.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
3
Convicted
3
Sentenced
3
Agency type
Court
Cannabis
Herbal cannabis (550 kg)
Activity
Trafficking
Grown
Greenhouse, Indoor
Charge
aggravated narcotics trafficking
Case stage
Sentenced
Sentence
Suspended sentence
Region
Ticino
Sources
Criminal Court of Luganoentscheidsuche.chITArchived copyRepubblica e Cantone Ticino, Corte delle assise correzionali di Lugano, incarto 72.2005.124. trafficking of at least 550 kg of dried hemp flowers, July 2002 to June 2003; 20, 18 and 15 month suspended terms with two-year probation
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Cannabis 300 gPrison 3 years, of which 1 year unsuspended
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