All 16 suspects on trial for selling cannabis in Christiania pleaded not guilty to organised drug dealing in Christiania. While four men admitted to sales of small amounts of cannabis, the 16 men on trial all denied knowledge of an organised effort to sell drugs in Christiania.
A 49-year-old man among the 16 defendants in the case has been previously convicted of cannabis sales in Christiania.
He is charged with the sale of 475 kilograms of hashish in a free state flat.
Kingpin of Christiania
The charge sheet identifies the man as the leader of organised drug sales in Christiania.
It says that many of the stalls in Christiania sell at least one kilo of cannabis each day.
Several of the other defendants are accused of selling during ‘action days’ when dealers apparently agree to keep only a few stalls open.
Read more: Police in massive cannabis raid
The co-ordination of the action days convince police that the Christiania cannabis trade is organised.
Major organised crime effort
The case against the 16 men is just one of six cases involving a total of 77 defendants that the prosecutor's office want to be viewed as a single case.
Prosecutors said that the drug sales referred to in the case date back as far as 2012 and some as recent as March 2014. The breakthrough in the operation came when police seized hashish and pot worth 12.8 million kroner and loose joints worth around 1 million kroner.
The arrests and prosecution of this case is the largest action ever conducted against against organised crime in Christiania.
