The Second Section of the Provincial Court of Tarragona has acquitted a man accused of drug trafficking in Calafell for an alleged sale of narcotics that occurred in Segur de Calafell on June 22, for which the Prosecutor's Office sought four years in prison.
The acquittal is not based on a dispute over police intervention, but on the evidence. The magistrates conclude that it was not proven that the substance delivered was drugs nor that the small bag analyzed by the Forensic Chemistry Laboratory of the Scientific Police Division of the Mossos d'Esquadra Corps was the same one that the agents seized on Baixador street.
The Court does not find the chain of custody of the substance to be proven
The events date back to 4:30 p.m. on June 22, 2021. According to the ruling, the accused, of Moroccan nationality, handed over a small bag with 0.7 grams of a substance to another person on Baixador street in Segur de Calafell.
At that moment, a plainclothes patrol of the Mossos d'Esquadra intervened. One agent detained the suspect, who was carrying two five-euro bills, while another police officer seized the substance after stopping the motorcycle.
The court focuses its analysis on the lack of traceability of the seized material. The resolution emphasizes that only the chain of custody of the seized money is recorded in the proceedings, but not that of the substance that formed the basis of the drug trafficking charge.
"Only the document of the chain of custody of the money seized from the accused has been incorporated into the proceedings" - Ruling of the Second Section of the Provincial Court of Tarragona
This absence prevents, in the opinion of the chamber, a certain link between the small bag collected in Segur de Calafell and the one subsequently examined by the forensic laboratory of the Mossos d'Esquadra.
The weight of the small bag also did not match the laboratory report
The ruling adds another relevant discrepancy in the material evidence. The gross weight indicated on the weighing certificate does not match that which appears in the results report issued by the forensic laboratory.
With this difference and without documentation on the chain of custody of the substance, the Court rules out that it can be considered proven that the analyzed material was the same as that which the agents intervened in the Calafell police operation.
The case stemmed from an alleged delivery of 0.7 grams and the intervention of two five-euro bills, but the court acquitted the defendant as the identity of the substance and its traceability to the expert analysis were not proven.