At first it was all about luxury cars and watches, then tuning and holidays. Three months into the investigation, the undercover police officer eventually managed to gain trust of a person close to the main defendant in the drug-trafficking case, both of whom are of Italian descent. This allowed the investigator to discreetly infiltrate his targets’ world while also learning how the money laundering was carried out. This was at the beginning of 2020.
The accused, who is currently in pre-trial detention, was working in real estate at the time. He is said to have had big plans and dealt with major sums. Over time, he rented a garage in Leudelange to a friend, the aforementioned main defendant, whom he later also offered the position of a paid business agent. However, this was only a fictitious contract as the presumed employee covered his salary by himself, a way of laundering money within the company.
At one point, the investigator proposed a deal to the accused, wanting to launder money and gold from a fabricated robbery in Switzerland. Thanks to a falsified invoice, the sale of a watch worth €50,000 was thus simulated. The invoice was issued by the partner of the accused, who now has to answer for his involvement in court.
The undercover agent convinced his targets by promising to buy drugs with the rest of the money from the made-up robbery. This is how he was finally able to get in touch with the main defendant in October 2020. A first meeting to discuss the deal took place in a garage in Esch-sur-Alzette and the trade was supposed to be carried out in the Leudelange garage at a later stage.
Negotiations revolved around 8kg of cocaine. At the time of the events, which was near the beginning of the pandemic, the price of one kilo ranged from €36,000 to €38,000. Photographic evidence of suspected deals was shown in court on Monday.
Police investigators will explain on Tuesday afternoon the steps that then took place and led up to the intervention carried out in November 2020. 20 people will have to answer for their actions before the courts in the coming weeks.
Bari trial, day one: 20 people face trial for suspected drug trafficking
Bari trial, day two: Main suspects in drug trafficking case were under observation for 18 months
