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28 January 2004
CUETA – The Cádiz Provincial Court in Ceuta has sentenced a municipal police officer from Madrid to three years in prison for trying to smuggle a Moroccan immigrant into Algeciras in his car.
The incident took place on 3 November 2003 when the 53-year-old officer was stopped at the boarding checkpoint by immigration agents after they detected a Moroccan citizen without documents.
The police officer showed his badge before being arrested for an alleged crime against foreign citizen’s rights.
The sentence passed states that the officer was in violation of the law since he was aware the Moroccan lacked legal documents and was knowingly smuggling him onto the peninsula.
The detained Moroccan is the brother of the woman the police officer was engaged to marry. This fact was taken into consideration by the court when he was sentenced.
In his plea of innocence, the officer stated he was unaware he was committing a crime. His defence attorney can appeal against the sentence.
The prosecution initially requested a four-year prison sentence, but this was lowered to three years since the officer had no previous criminal record and stood nothing to gain financially.
[Copyright EFE with Expatica]
Subject: Spanish news