Fourth session of the trial for the narco-submarine sunk with 3,000 kilos of cocaine on the Aldán beach (Pontevedra) and again with statements that will be key to the resolution of the case. Before the court, Iago Serantes, who had already been questioned yesterday; Iago Rego; the father of the first, Enrique Carlos Serantes and finally Rodrigo Hermida, who left a rather compromising statement for Iago Serantes, accused by the prosecutor of trying to coordinate from land the discharge of at least part of the drug in contact with Agustín Álvarez, aboard the semi-submersible.
And it is that Rodrigo Hermida, as had already happened in the police and judicial headquarters, again assured that it was Iago Serantes (both friends among them and also of Agustín Álvarez, who acknowledged manning the semi-submersible with two other Ecuadorian citizens) who offered him on Thursday November 21, 2019 (four days before the discovery of the semi-submersible at dawn on Sunday 24) participate “in a drug discharge” in “a beach about 20 minutes from Vigo”.
He also acknowledged that they offered him a profit of between “15,000 and 20,000 euros” for the participants in the operation, but that he rejected it.
He also assured that he offered him between “15,000 and 20,000 euros” which he understood would be the profit that the entire group would obtain if the operation went ahead. The defendant assured the court that at that time, Serantes concealed from him (or at least did not inform him) that it was his also friend Agustín who was related to the discharge or that he could be on board a boat with drugs or in some type of danger. Rodrigo Hermida said he rejected such an offer. Then they told him that the “download”, which would be on Friday the 22nd, “had been canceled.”
He says it was Serantes who asked him to come to Foxos on the night of Saturday the 23rd to bring clothes and food to help Agustín, who was in danger, and that it was because they told him that the ship had sunk and therefore, “the drug no longer existed”
Hermida assures that it was on Saturday the 23rd when she had contact with Serantes again. He claims that he called him to tell him that It was Agustín who was involved in the drug unloading operation that I had told him about, who was on a ship and needed help, since the ship had sunk. He declared that it was Serantes, who was already back in Majorca, asked him to be the one who approached Foxos beach with the car and the lights on towards the sea, “making bursts” from time to time to help Agustín. He claimed that he agreed to go because “They told me that the drug discharge had been canceled, that the ship had sunk and that therefore the drug no longer existed, so I was only going to help a friend, to get him out of the sea”. It was him who the Civil Guard identified in Foxos, with three bags of sportswear and energy bars in the car, minutes before they discovered the three crew members of the narco-submarine. He acknowledged that he lied to the agents “so as not to harm Agustín” to whom he said he was there because he had argued with his girlfriend and they let him go.
This morning the father of Iago Serantes, Enrique Carlos, who denies any relationship to the events, although he refused to respond to the prosecutor about the WhatsApp messages that were exchanged with his son throughout those days, also testified. Yes you answered some of these questions to your lawyer insisting that these messages were “jokes” with his son suspecting that Agustín, his friend, could be involved in something shady related to drug trafficking, although not knowing exactly what he was up to. As for the “money order” that his son promises to make so that he can go on a trip “when he gets paid”, it is the return of money that he had left to Iago to be able to return to Mallorca. He did not clarify – he did not reply to the prosecutor and his lawyer did not refer to this message – who was the “Negro” referred to in the messages and who could be the one who managed the refueling of the submarine with gasoline on the high seas.
Iago Rego answered all the prosecutor’s questions and acknowledged that, when the efforts to help Agustín began to raise questions, I “got angry with Serantes and told him that something smells bad to me, I won’t stay here for another minute and I left”
Iago Rego, born in Vigo but residing in Lleida, also gave a statement, who made himself available to the prosecutor and responded with force and clarity to everything that was asked: He insisted that His only involvement in this case was a call from his friend Iago Serantes telling him that Agustín needed help with a truck or van in Vigo, that he did not know what he needed it for, and that all he did was contact a friend of his who knew he had trucks to ask about their availability. He also acknowledged that he went with Serantes to ask another acquaintance about the availability of a boat to help Agustín, but that was when, after reflection, “I got angry with Iago Serantes, and I got serious “, I told him that” I don’t know what this whole mess is about but it smells very bad, I won’t stay another minute here “ and he left, returning to Lleida, where he has a business and a family. He assures that at no time did he have contact with Agustín Álvarez or the rest of the accused, except with Serantes’ father, briefly, for breakfast. He reiterated that at all times “he did not know where he was (Agustín’s) so he needed the clothes and food and why he needed them,” Rego explained.
The trial will continue tomorrow with the presentation of its final conclusions by the Prosecutor’s Office and the defenses and the reading of the reports, leaving the trial seen for sentencing.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.