Three Years in Prison After Failed Cocaine Deal with Undercover Investigator
However, he encountered an undercover police investigator. During the planned handover of two kilograms of cocaine, for which the officer had pretended to accept a price of 60,000 euros, the 38-year-old and a 34-year-old accomplice were arrested.
The younger man had driven the 38-year-old to the handover location, knowing about the drug deal. The 34-year-old had nothing to do with drugs himself. He was working as an orchestra musician and had participated "out of friendship," as his defense lawyer Alexander Philipp explained. For this, the 34-year-old received a 21-month prison sentence, with seven months unconditional. The rest was conditionally suspended with a three-year probation period. This verdict is also already final.
From Coffeehouse Operator to Cocaine Seller
Philipp Wolm, the defense lawyer of the main defendant, pointed out his client's previous unblemished record, which is rare among drug dealers. The 38-year-old had slipped into insolvency with his coffeehouse business, had debts, and due to his own drug addiction ("He became a consumer through the gastronomy"), had additional financial needs. He had "let himself be carried away" to look for buyers in the federal capital for a larger dealer from Graz, who is in pre-trial detention in the Styrian capital and is awaiting his main trial.
In doing so, he encountered a police informant (PI) who introduced the 38-year-old to the undercover investigator as a supposed buyer. After an initial meeting, where two grams changed hands for 70 euros to let the prospective buyer test the quality of the goods, one and a half kilograms were supposed to be handed over at the end of March. However, this deal fell through at the last minute. A few weeks later, the seller and the undercover investigator reestablished contact and arranged a meeting, during which the now accused were arrested by the investigator's colleagues on May 6.
Defendants in Vienna Fully Confessed
Before a jury, the two were now fully confessing. "It was a moment when I didn't think logically," said the 38-year-old. The co-accused orchestra musician stated: "I feel guilty and ask for forgiveness." Beyond that, the defendants did not provide any further information on the advice of their defense lawyers.
(APA/Red)
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