Gang is said to have sold several kilos of heroin in Salzburg: trial
Five men, some of whom have already had a serious criminal record, are on trial in Salzburg on Wednesday. Main character in the process: a Serb who, according to the indictment, wanted to create a kind of monopoly on the sale of heroin in Salzburg.
Prosecutor Elena Haslinger is certain: the five defendants who sat in front of a lay judge on Wednesday were members of an organized gang with varying degrees of participation that sold large quantities of narcotic drugs at a profit in Salzburg in 2019 and 2020. Above all, the hard drug heroin, which has an extremely high potential for addiction, was sold. At the start of the trial, Haslinger named the first defendant as the main culprit – a 37-year-old Serb with four relevant criminal records: “He has been trading drugs at a profit since 2015, then he used co-defendants who brought heroin for him from Vienna.” The prosecutor added to the Serbian who, according to the indictment, wanted to create “a kind of monopoly” on the sale of heroin in Salzburg after the arrest of another major dealer: “He then hired others as couriers so as not to get his own fingers dirty and not getting caught yourself. ” The main defendant alone is said to sell or have something 1.7 kilos of heroin – to a large number of buyers. He is said to have made 70,000 euros with the deals.
Four Austrians were also charged: two of them – the 41-year-old second defendant and the 35-year-old third defendant – also have a relevant criminal record. The 42-year-old fourth and 59-year-old fifth defendants, on the other hand, have not yet received training. Some of the four men are said to have picked up heroin from Vienna for the Serbs, and some of them then obtained the heroin from the 37-year-old and resold it as a subdealer. In total, the public prosecutor, several kilos of the hard drug as well as cocaine and a few kilos of cannabis were sold. The defendants remained after intense police surveillance in December 2020.
Attorney Peter Lechenauer, defender of the alleged gang leader, emphasized to the lay judge’s court (chaired by Ilona Schalwich-Mózes) that his client would answer “mostly confessingly”. Lechenauer doubted whether there actually was a criminal organization – as did the sales figures mentioned by the public prosecutor. He also said his client was “severely addicted to drugs” himself.
The defense lawyers of the co-defendants – Teresa-Sophie Hofer, Christian Schubert, Georg Wallner and Franz Essl – announced at least partial confessions. For their part, their clients should stay between 570 grams and one kilo of heroin. An important person in the matter of drug delivery was apparently the fourth defendant, who was addicted to heroin, an employee with a technical college degree: He is said to have been the only one with a car (and driver’s license). The fifth accused is also innocent. His lawyer Franz Es is in very bad shape. Above all, he consumed heroin himself and sold it on much less and was accused of being accused.