Brazilian gets 14 years for cocaine smuggling

FRANCISCO MODESTO from Brazil has been sentenced to 14 years in jail being found guilty of possessing and intending to sell five kilos of cocaine.

Modesto, 50, and a female compatriot were apprehended on their arrival at Larnaca Airport in June 2005.

Receiving a tip-off informing them the Brazilian was transporting hard drugs, the Drug Squad intersected Modesto at customs and upon checking his luggage, found two plaques of condensed cocaine, weighing five kilos.

In delivering the sentence, the judge condemned the 50-year-old’s actions, saying hard drugs are a threat to the most vibrant part of society – youths – and for this reason the sentencing for drug possession with the intent of selling should be very strict.

He also stressed that the quantity of cocaine being smuggled by Modesto was unprecedented for Cyprus standards and that the Brazilian may very well be the link in a chain of drug trafficking, “spreading, in this way, white death in other persons”.

In connection with the same case, Soteris Athinis and Modesto’s driver, Michalis Kakkanthymis will also be appearing before the criminal court in September.
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The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.