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A 55-year-old Berliner has been sentenced to nine years in prison for smuggling 50 kilograms of heroin installed in the top of his convertible.
The district court in Krefeld on the Lower Rhine pronounced the man guilty of drug smuggling and aiding and abetting drug trafficking on Monday.
The amount seized had a black market value of around three million euros.
On August 19, last year, while driving back from the Netherlands, the Berliner came into a control on the edge of the autobahn, where the 100 plates of heroin came to light.
Because he was noticeably nervous during the inspection and could not give a reasonable reason for travel, the police took a closer look at his car.
The father of four had initially protested his innocence: he had only bought the car the day before and knew nothing about the drugs.
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On Monday, the 55-year-old confessed that he knew about it: He had got involved in drug smuggling in order to be able to pay off part of his gambling debts.
He believed it was only about 20 kilograms of hashish and not such a large amount of high-purity heroin.
He was not there when the drugs were installed.
The defense lawyers had suggested a significantly lower prison sentence.
The verdict is not yet legally binding.