A panel of the Haskovo District Court, presided over by Judge Milena Decheva, ruled on a preventive measure of "detention in custody" against Syrian citizen Husin Arlhal, accused of illegally transporting 43,160 kilograms of cocaine worth 2.563 million euros by truck through the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint.
When his identity was taken in the courtroom, it became clear that Arlhal has the status of a permanent resident in Sweden. He indicated that he has two wives and eight children.
According to the indictment presented by the prosecutor from the Haskovo District Prosecutor's Office Anton Stoyanov, the accused traveled from Belgium, through Bulgaria and Turkey to Syria. He entered our country by truck on May 7 this year. The next day he left the truck at the border crossing "Kapitan Andreevo" due to a problem with the documents, and on May 9 he left our country by plane. He was subsequently declared wanted.
The presence of drugs in the truck was established during an inspection of the vehicle on May 15.
Prosecutor Stoyanov pointed out in the courtroom that the accused constantly travels to countries in the European Union and the Middle East, which, according to the state prosecution, shows that he uses his status as a permanent resident in Sweden to travel undisturbed.
The prosecution referred to numerous pieces of evidence, including witness interviews, which, according to the prosecution, allow a reasonable assumption to be made that Arlhal committed the crime for which he is being held criminally liable.
The defendant's defense attorney, lawyer Nedyalka Markova, requested a lighter measure of detention. She said that the truck did not have a mandatory special lock and the cargo could have been placed in it at any time.
“If I were guilty, I would not have sent my son to check if the truck was still at the border“, the defendant said in the courtroom, BTA reported. According to him, the owner of the truck suspected that he had abandoned the vehicle.
Arlhal also explained that he had driven the truck from Vienna to “Kapitan Andreevo“, and from Belgium to Austria the vehicle was driven by another driver.
The court accepted that the case was of particularly high public danger, given the quantity and value of the drug, and that sufficient evidence had been collected for a reasonable assumption of the authorship of the crime. According to the court, detention in custody is also necessary to guarantee the participation of the accused in the course of the criminal proceedings.
According to the charges brought against him, the Criminal Code provides for imprisonment from 15 to 20 years and a fine from 200,000 to 300,000 leva, said Judge Decheva.
The decision of the Haskovo District Court can be appealed and protested before the Plovdiv Court of Appeal.