Tripoli: The Tripoli Criminal Court sentenced eight defendants to life imprisonment for their involvement in smuggling narcotics and psychotropic substances concealed in vehicles arriving on the vessels Grand California and Grand Espa±a from the port of Antwerp in the Kingdom of Belgium.
According to Libyan News Agency, the Public Prosecutor's Office stated that after the Public Prosecution filed charges against nine defendants in this case, the Tripoli Criminal Court, in its final session, sentenced the first eight defendants to life imprisonment and the ninth defendant to three years in prison. All eight were fined 20,000 dinars each and permanently deprived of their civil rights. The court also ordered the confiscation of the seized narcotics and the vehicles used in smuggling them.
The Office indicated that, in the course of pursuing the defendants who were absent from the trial proceedings, the investigating authority renewed arrest warrants for the perpetrators and accomplices located in the Republic of Malta, in preparation for resubmitting extradition requests.