Czech fugitive wanted over cannabis grow network; 12-year sentence
Czech national Oskar Benes was sentenced to 12 years in prison for organising a network of cannabis nurseries and marijuana distribution, including shipments abroad. He escaped custody in Portugal in 2023 and remains on Europol's most-wanted list.
Oskar Benes is a Czech man who set up a network of cannabis grow houses across
Czechia.[1]Europol lists him as wanted by the Czech Republic for illicit
trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.[2]For these
activities he was sentenced to 12 years in prison.[2]In 2023 he escaped from
custody in Portugal and remains a wanted fugitive.[2]
As the organizer, he provided real estate in the Czech Republic where cannabis
plant nurseries were established and operated at least since the beginning of
2013.[2]He supplied vehicles for marijuana transport, cannabis seedlings and
grow-house equipment, and coordinated marijuana deliveries and transfers of
small cannabis plants, including shipments to couriers abroad.[1]He accepted
payments for the marijuana sold and in some cases personally delivered marijuana
to buyers.[2]
TN.cz counted him in November 2026 among 16 Czechs sought through Interpol and
Europol, with Europol seeking one Czech.[1]In December 2025 Novinky described
him as newly listed by Europol among Europe’s most wanted as the organizer of
large-scale marijuana production and sale.[3]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Novinky.cznovinky.czCSNejhledanější tváře Evropy. Na „top“ seznamu zločinců jsou dva Češi, oba kvůli drogám
Open questions the AI reported
No separate date is given for the sentence or the 2023 escape; 8 November 2026, the publication date confirming he is still wanted, stands in for the incident date.
The sources give his age as 65 and 66 and Europol gives his birth date as 4 August 1960; the report uses the birth date to explain the difference.
TN.cz gives his wanted notice date as 15 August 2022 but says he escaped custody in 2023; the sequence of arrest, custody and escape was not explained.
No quantities of plants or marijuana, no seizure weight, area or value were published.
The court, case number and date of the 12-year sentence were not reported.
No arrest, plea or enforcement outcome after the escape was reported; he is still listed as wanted.
The second Czech on Europol's December 2025 list, Vilem Kovac, is sought over cocaine and hashish trafficking through Liberec and is not part of this cannabis report.
The Domažlice court gave Miroslav H. four years for selling mainly pervitin and sometimes marijuana to eleven buyers in 2025. The Regional Court in Plzeň annulled the verdict and ordered a retrial so a key witness who was abroad can be heard.
A man in the Znojmo district who grew cannabis for chronic pain was prosecuted after police, called to thieves he had caught, harvested his garden plants and seized his stocks. The Brno Regional Court replaced a nine-month suspended sentence with 100 hours of community service.
Miloslav Knol, a Czech man, grew cannabis in a family house in Vícov over three cycles from May to December 2023, producing 7.5 kg of dried cannabis and selling 5.5 kg at 60,000 CZK a kilogram. The Regional Court in Brno gave him a three-year prison sentence suspended for five years and ordered him to compensate the energy company EG.D for more than 1 million CZK in damage.
Charged 1Plants destroyed 400Cannabis 7.5 kgPrison 3 years, suspended for 5 years
A 60-year-old Šumava man was given a 10-month suspended sentence by the Klatovy District Court in the Czech Republic for growing cannabis in the attic of a rented house in Kašperské Hory; the verdict is final. Police found almost nine kilograms of dried cannabis in April 2024, and investigators valued the crop at about 2.3 million korunas.
Cannabis 9 kgPrison 10 months suspended for 20 months
