The Charleroi Criminal Court on Monday handed down two-year prison sentences, suspended for five years, against two men charged with possession and sale of cocaine and heroin.
A third defendant, charged with possession of both drugs, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.
In early May, police had spotted a suspicious car in Marchienne-au-Pont, Charleroi. “A street deal was noticed with a customer," police reported. "She explained that she had been buying from a vendor for several months. The man in question was joined by two other individuals, who had come out of a building.”
Inside the car and in the building spotted by the police, the law enforcers discovered the three defendants, a few grammes of cocaine and heroin, and the equipment needed for the sale. The first two defendants confessed to the facts, saying that they had become involved in the illegal trade “to survive and feed themselves.”
The third defendant denied that he was the owner of the drugs found in the car and in the flat. “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time when I asked to be taken home,” said the defendant, who had just been released from prison at the time of the incident.
A six-month prison sentence was requested against him and an 18-month sentence against the other two defendants.
The various defence lawyers had pleaded for a simple suspended sentence for the two defendants and the acquittal of the defendant who had just left prison.
