Those arrested at the time on the A4 motorway, in the Legnickie Pole area—a woman and a man from Silesia who were smuggling drugs—have already been convicted in final judgments. Permanently resident in the Netherlands, Arkadiusz S. was not arrested until 30 March this year, in France. The man is currently in custody.

On 27 February 2014, police, suspecting that drugs might be being transported in an Opel Omega driven by then-40-year-old Tomasz O. from Knurów and 30-year-old Elżbieta Sz. from Zabrze, stopped the vehicle for inspection. Both the female driver and the passenger behaved very nervously. They pretended not to know why they were being checked. When questioned, they denied transporting prohibited substances.

The vehicle was thoroughly searched. Packages of marijuana were found in the deformed sills. One of the consignments was wrapped only in transparent film, making the dried material inside clearly visible. Some of the packages were damaged, and as a result the strong smell of marijuana was noticeable in the car.

After weighing, it was established that more than 5 kg of the drug had been found. The investigation established that Tomasz O. and Elżbieta Sz. had been in the Netherlands and Germany since 25 February 2014. During that time, they followed the instructions of Zdzisław B. (also already convicted in a final judgment) and the current defendant, Arkadiusz S. The men piloted the transaction, indicating the means of transport, the stopping place and the destination in Germany, not far from the Dutch border. They also indicated the return route, already carrying the marijuana, and the place where it was to be handed over in Poland.

Moreover, they accompanied the car driven by Elżbieta Sz., travelling in an Audi belonging to Zdzisław B., a short distance from the Opel. They stayed in telephone contact with Tomasz O. throughout, enabling them to avoid being stopped by the Border Guard.

The arrested pair were charged with smuggling a significant quantity of narcotic substances under Article 55(3) of the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction. Tomasz O. did not admit to committing the offence. He explained that before his arrest he had been shopping in Berlin with Elżbieta Sz. He was unaware that drugs were being transported in the car.

Sz., on the other hand, admitted to the act with which she was charged. She explained that she knew what she was transporting across the Polish-German border.

The indictment in this case was submitted to the court on 14 May 2014. Arkadiusz S., who had been permanently resident in the Netherlands, was not arrested until 30 March this year—on the basis of a European Arrest Warrant issued a year earlier—in France, when he was boarding a ferry to the United Kingdom.

The defendant, questioned as a suspect, admitted to committing the offence and provided explanations. Smuggling a significant quantity of drugs is punishable by up to 15 years’ imprisonment and a mandatory fine. The fine may amount to more than PLN 1 million. The court may also order an additional payment for drug-prevention and drug-control purposes of up to PLN 50,000.

Elżbieta Sz. and Tomasz O. were convicted by a judgment of the District Court in Jelenia Góra dated 8 August 2014. They disclosed significant circumstances surrounding the commission of the offence and information about the people who had acted together with them, including S. and B. Therefore, the court applied extraordinary mitigation of punishment and sentenced both to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for five years, as well as fines of PLN 2,600 for the woman and PLN 9,600 for the man.

Zdzisław B., indicted in December 2014 for directing the drug-smuggling operation, was treated less leniently. On 4 August 2015, the District Court in Jelenia Góra sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of PLN 15,000. Zdzisław B. never admitted to committing the offence, claiming that his acquaintance with the other defendants was unrelated to smuggling. B. had been convicted numerous times.

In the present case, defendant Arkadiusz S. declared his willingness to voluntarily submit to punishment. An agreement was reached with the man on a sentence of two years’ imprisonment and a fine of PLN 3,000.

The case will be heard by the District Court in Jelenia Góra.

Liliana Łukasiewicz, acting for the press spokesperson of the District Prosecutor’s Office in Legnica/ii