It wasn’t enough for him to get rid of the cocaine with a furtive move, at the sight of an approaching police gazelle. Because unfortunately for him, other officers, in plain clothes, were already observing him: SP, from Cuneo convicted for drug dealing, was sentenced to nine months in prison and a 1500 euro fine.
Judge Alberto Boetti did not believe the justification that the accused provided regarding the possession of drugs – six wraps, contained in a bag – and one thousand euros in cash, found in the pouch he was carrying with him. “They belonged to my older brother, who had left his wallet at home the night before. He should have paid the lawyer two days later” explained the accused, specifying that his brother was under house arrest at that time.
The reconstruction of the facts, dating back to September 2021, was given in the courtroom by assistant Andrea Chialva of the Flying Squad: together with a colleague, the policeman had been sent to Piazza Europa shortly before to investigate an alleged extortion attempt. Here the two officers, in plain clothes, had identified SP and another subject, who after a few minutes headed towards the Don Stoppa gardens, near the INPS. “SP entered the gardens and took something from the ground, while the other remained on the street, perhaps acting as a lookout” the assistant recalled. The movement had been reported to the manager who had arranged for a police squad to be sent: “We took the car to via Bertolino. During the check by colleagues in uniform, SP threw a package over the police station, without being noticed”.
“I threw the bag away because I was scared” the accused admitted, reiterating however that the drugs were for personal use: “I had purchased it from an African in Corso Giolitti, half an hour earlier. Then I left it in the garden, because I had to meet my friend”. Another gesture dictated by fear of controls, according to him. The public prosecutor Gianluigi Datta had asked for a one-year prison sentence. “He could not have disposed of the substance, because the search was not a given. She acted naively, like a child, because she was afraid.” observed the lawyer Alessandra Bruno, pleading the thesis of personal use: “The quantity of substance is greater than personal use, but he declared that he had made a ‘stock’. He was a substance abuser and had no tools with him that would suggest drug dealing.”.
Andrea Cascioli
WEDGE
