Captagon process: Statement from the key witness is eagerly awaited
In the Salzburg trial of the alleged trade in 14.8 million stimulant pills, seven of the 14 defendants filed for release on Monday – but the court turned them off. The key witness will now be questioned on Tuesday.
14 charges are currently being brought to trial at the regional court because, as part of an international gang, they are said to have smuggled around 13.8 million Captagon tablets from Lebanon to Flachgau, repackaged them here, and sent them on to Saudi Arabia for sale. The group of perpetrators, which accordingly acted in a division of labor, is said to have made a profit of 40 million euros from the sale of the amphetamine-containing pills. Many of the defendants have Arab roots, some are related and live in Salzburg and Tyrol.
As is well known, the prosecution’s (StA) charge is largely based on the statements of a former co-accused who then became the main witness or key witness of the StA. It is explosive that this key witness, an Iraqi (41), is in a relationship with an Arabic interpreter who translated thousands of phone calls from the accused during the preliminary investigation – as well as several interrogations of the accused, including several from the key witness.
On Monday, day four of the trial, other defendants were questioned. As reported, 13 of them have been in custody for nine months. According to the indictment, a Tyrolean hotelier (54) with Lebanese roots supplies the gang as “Austria boss” – he is said to have organized the transport of the drugs from his Lebanon via Belgium to Austria, his son (28) repackaging the pills and in a bar in Flachgau Have supervised their installation in pizza ovens and tumble dryers. Several other accused – several Syrians, a Hungarian, a Turk, a German – are said to have died per truck delivered pills in the restaurant, repackaged and built into the devices.
The accused plead not guilty; Seven of them filed for exemption from liability through their defense lawyers on Monday: In essence, clients were only burdened by the implausible key witness or by telephone surveillance protocols that were “null and void” because she had translated the key witness’s friend. However, the court dismissed the release requests. – The questioning of the key witness is now going to be exciting, scheduled for today, Tuesday, from 1 p.m.