Court acquits trio accused of cocaine delivery in banana boxes

The Prague City Court has acquitted three men accused of organising the delivery of several hundred kilograms of cocaine in boxes of bananas. According to the chairwoman of the court, Jarmila Pavlátová, it was not possible to prove that the former manager of the Lidl retail chain Jiří Gabriel, the former associate of fugitive businessman Radovan Krejčíř Petr Hrubý and the foreigner Faton Gashi committed drug-related crimes. The verdict is not final.

The men have denied guilt from the beginning. If convicted, they would face up to eighteen years in prison. Mr. Gashi's court only found him guilty of illegal armament and imposed a fine of 100,000 crowns on him. According to the indictment, the delivery was organised by the trio between November 2021 and August 2022. It contained at least 300 kilograms of drugs. The cocaine was placed in cardboard boxes with bananas, which were supposed to provide cover. The drugs were shipped to Hamburg and from there to other European countries.