Larnaca Criminal Court imposed prison sentences on three people for the import and possession of about six kilogrammes of cannabis on Friday.
Epaninondas Gripalis, 55, was sentenced to five years in prison, while Nicolas Georgiou, 26, received a six-year sentence and Ioannis Demetriades, 28, received two years. All three admitted being guilty of the charge of conspiracy to commit a felony, the selling of six kg of cannabis plant material.
Gripalis and Georgiou also admitted to importing and possessing narcotics for the purpose of supplying other persons, and commissioning from another person and supplying the drugs.
The case dates back to 7 June 2017, when Gripalis, who is from Greece, arrived at Larnaca Airport, where 12 pieces of luggage were found containing the cannabis.
He collaborated with the police and informed them that he would receive €1000 for the drug transfer. He also informed police that he had agreed to drop-off of the drugs in the courtyard of the church of St. Lazarus in Larnaca.
A policeman pretending to be Gripalis arrived at the scene at the allocated time, when the Georgiou and Demetriades arrived in a car, into which the policeman placed the drug-containing luggage. He then arrested the two passengers.
The Georgiou told police that he went with Demetriades to pick up a man from Greece and take him to Limassol, and that he was getting instructions from a “Pantelis” who was serving a prison sentence in the British bases.
“None of the three defendants is the mastermind of the whole business. The participation of each cannot be denied, but all three are nothing but cogs in a machine that sets illegal actions in motion as soon as it becomes operational. Their involvement is sometimes greater and sometimes smaller,” the criminal court said in its ruling.
“Without the role of all the defendants, small or large, the illegal action is not achieved,” it added.
In sentencing, the court took into account the defendants’ clean criminal records, their cooperation with the police and their personal and family circumstances.
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