Two Albanians appeared before the Wil County Court as "ground men" of an Albanian drug gang and were sentenced to prison and deportation from the country. However, the sanctions were softer than the prosecution demanded.
The two 23-year-olds had travelled to Switzerland in November 2023, within 24 days of each other.
"I wanted to work here, but soon realized that this was not possible without valid documents," one of them told The Wil County Court in Flawil on Wednesday. The other remained largely silent but denied that he belonged to an Albanian drug ring.
The young men had met together in the municipality of Zuzwil, where they shared a room on behalf of an Albanian drug trafficking organization, writes Solothurner Zeitung. From there, they also tried their own business, though not very successfully. One of them was arrested by police during the second illegal drug bazaar, in Flawil. When the other person was subsequently alerted by the organisation and tasked to dispose of the drugs, the "trap" opened: he was caught just as he was about to leave their home with a backpack full of cocaine and heroin.
The defense argued that the duo acted on their own initiative and began to coaguely trade drugs after realizing they couldn't find regular work in this country. The judge did not believe this. Rather, gang-related crime against the narcotics law, which endangers the health of many people, was certainly existential because "both were present as perpetrators while in the background one gang observed the operation and warned one of them when the other was caught", the judge argued.
Earlier, the defendant, who was caught attempting to sell in Flawil, had taken all the blame. He explained that he lived with a colleague and gave her occasionally from a little cocaine.
However, he was not involved in portions and certainly not in the sale of drugs.
But the problem was the fact that dna traces found proved otherwise. "DNA was found not only in plastic bags intended for disposal, but also inside the bag closure section," the judge said. And the latter in particular suggests both were involved in drug insurance. All the more so that the DNA of the person suspected of not being involved was found in the containers (site, hinks, etc.) used for separation and filling.
In the end, the two Albanians, who still have no criminal precedents in Switzerland, were sentenced to 18 respectively 20 months in prison and two years on parole for the gang crime against the law on narcotics and entry as well as illegal residence in Switzerland. The court essentially pursued the charge.
However, since one of the two accused had no doubt been proven for individual facts that emerged from their previous stay in Switzerland, they were found not guilty on several points, which resulted in the reduction of the prison sentence on bail from 32 to 20 months. He must also pay a fine of 300 francs or carry out a substitute sentence (instead of the fine pahesa) with prison time of three days.
Both were also sentenced to five years of deportation from Switzerland, which will be declared in the Schengen information system; At this point, the prosecution had requested deportations from the country for seven or eight years, albinfo.ch reports.
The young people must also pay the proceduraly expenses of 10,487 francs respectively 11,226 francs. The court ordered that both be held in detention until they are deported to their home country. Deportation must be done within a month.