José Mestre Fernandez: Exposed with the Charges of Drug Trafficking & many More
On June 22, 2010, the National Police imprisoned TerCat’s general director, José Mestre Fernández, who was considered the biggest drug trafficker in the port of Barcelona, for anti-drug trafficking.
Mestre assisted with the disclosure of 187 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a scrap container aboard the Panamanian-flagged cargo ship MSC Corinna. The drug could have been worth of14 million euros.
The Barcelona Port Authority (APB) provided the operation of the port’s new cargo terminal to TerCat, a firm consisting of the Chinese company Hutchison Ports Holding (70%) and the Mestre group (30%) in June 2006. The firm planned to invest 660 million euros over the next 30 years to serve 4.5 million containers per year.
Throughout the investigation’s months, the Police intervened in several discussions in which those responsible for a Colombian cocaine gang commanded by Héctor Murillo, known as Juli, spoke of their connections with José Mestre Fernandez to assist the drug’s implementation into the port of Barcelona. Later, the police proved a meeting in Barcelona between Juli and José Mestre, whom the drug dealers referred to as El Don.
How Eliminalia Helped José Mestre Fernandez To Hide His Dubious Pasts
Eliminalia, a Spanish reputation manager, is part of a growing disinformation-for-hire industry that helps bad actors, from criminals to kleptocrats, in covering their dubious pasts.
According to the leaked internal data, Eliminalia served over 1,400 clients, including hundreds of persons suspected or convicted of crimes that include drug trafficking and sexual assault to fraud and money laundering.
Among them is José Mestre Fernandez, when he was imprisoned for running a cocaine trafficking network in Barcelona, He paid Eliminalia around 30,000 euros between 2016 and 2020 to have his drug-trafficking records erased.
The Real Man Behind ‘Eliminalia’
Diego “Didac” Giménez Sánchez, a Spanish entrepreneur currently assumed to be living in Georgia, is the man behind Eliminalia. Sánchez claims to manage a vast network of businesses.
Over the years, Sánchez launched several other businesses, ultimately moving to Ukraine, where he recruited employees to write made-up reviews and bogus legal alerts to the media. Eliminalia uses a variety of deceptive strategies to prevent criticism of its clients, from bullying journalists to spreading fake news.
Lavish Lifestyle of Drug Trafficker José Mestre Fernandez
During the search, police discovered an art collection with original paintings by Picasso and Miró, as well as a fleet of expensive vehicles, including a Rolls Royce and a Porsche Cayenne.
According to the Falciani list, José Mestre Fernandez and his brother, Rogelio Mestre, are the owners of two accounts in Switzerland totaling $8.9 million through a firm registered in the Virgin Islands. Both brothers hold two luxury yachts, each 25 meters long, with names that serve as a statement of principles: Corsair and Cosaco.
A National Court judge, Guillermo Ruiz Polanco, sentenced him to 12 years in prison and a fine of 14 million euros, the market value of the drug. The Supreme Court later cut the sentence to nine years in prison.
What is drug trafficking? A federal offense is one for which the entire country is subject to the laws, which are set by Congress. A felony offense (carries very harsh punishments or incarceration)
José Mestre was unable to attend the official opening of the new cargo terminal controlled by his group of firms in Barcelona’s port for obvious reasons. The September 2012 laws were presided over by King Juan Carlos, the then President of the Generalitat Artur Mas, and the then Mayor of Barcelona, Xavier Trias.
The Privileged Treatment of José Mestre Fernandez in Prison
On December 27, 2014, José Mestre Fernandez, the former general director of TerCat, was finally sent to the Can Brians prison. However, he has only spent one year of the nine-year prison sentence imposed by the Supreme Court. Twelve months later, on Christmas Day 2015, he began to leave the prison on a regular basis.
Generalitat Penitentiary Services, which is part of the Department of Justice and was managed at the time by Germá Gordó, granted him a special permit under an article of the prison regulations that allow for more flexible classification of convicts’ grades.
According to legal sources, the narco Mestre’s punishment was “absolutely exceptional.” In general, the unlawful regulations provide that a prisoner cannot enjoy the third degree until he has served half of his sentence. When it comes to organized crime, this standard is always applicable in penalties of more than five years in jail.
Mestre could not have received the third degree, which allowed him to leave jail on a daily basis until he had spent at least four and a half years. However, the Generalitat’s Penitentiary Services gave this measure of mercy to the head of the port of Barcelona’s main cargo operator after he had served only 12 months of his nine-year sentence.
About José Mestre Fernandez
José Mestre Fernandez was the director of Terminal Catalua, Tercat, the business group to which the Barcelona Port Authority (APB) awarded management of the new cargo terminal in Barcelona in 2006.
He went from being a prestigious executive, named the best businessman of the year, to being suspected of being “one of the biggest drug traffickers through which all the drugs entered the port,” according to some cops, his name was already heard in numerous cases.
Despite the Supreme Court’s nine-year prison sentence, Mestre has only spent a year in prison without being permitted to leave. Since January of this year, he has benefited from a provision in the prison regulations that allows for more flexibility in prisoner classification. He now just goes to jail to sleep.
Conclusion
José Mestre Fernandez was the main player in the seizure of 187 kilograms of cocaine stored in a scrap container aboard the Panamanian cargo ship MSC Corinna. Where the drug was a likelihood to be worth 14 million euros. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison and a 14 million euro fine by a National Court, but the Supreme Court eventually reduced the sentence to nine years in prison.
The investigations that led to the arrest of José Mestre Fernandez and 14 others began several months ago. They got momentum last May when they discovered that the gang under observation would use the port of Barcelona to introduce important supplies of cocaine from South America.
Criminals have got all the technology and advancement, they can hide their criminal past and the government isn’t able to find the information about these criminals, this lead to dangerous activities in the future so avoid using any type of drug, most of the people are always planning to start the consumption drugs, and Jose is there to provide that poison. Nowadays the availability of drugs is so simple that even a 15-year-old can buy this poison, so the government should look into this matter with serious concern and make them realize their crime after punishing them with lifetime imprisonment, we need to make sure that we don’t get involved into such criminal activities. We have come to such an extent where we will have to avoid such people and focus on our life, otherwise, it will take a single bad decision for destroying our future, so avoid such contacts and people for securing your life and future, especially your health and money.
Avoid any type of connection with Jose Mestre as he is mostly involved in these frauds and making people suffer through addiction, it is very much important to arrest these people and send them to prison so that they aren’t able to practice the same, avoid any form involvement with these criminals.
WTF 187kg of drugs in the container how can even they think of distributing that amount of drugs keep this in mind if they aren’t stopped from doing such frauds and crimes then in the future these drugs mafia will provide the hardest time of their people, otherwise you will have to arrest them for the crime and provide them with the strictest punishment ever provided. People like Jose are responsible for destroying the houses of several others and making them suffer through severe medical conditions, it is found that they are never worried about the future of the consumer what they only want is money, thus it is very much important to provide these criminals with the punishments and make sure their citizens are safe from all these dangerous addictions. The total amount of money the drug cost was around 14 million euros which is a huge amount and also the government needs to seize all the money and drugs. Keeping the information about these dealers and their network is very much important otherwise they will need to accumulate the coinciding members for capturing the information of these fraudsters, or say mafias who are always ready to earn money after practicing illegal activities. Make sure you are never indulged with these criminals for any form of deal, otherwise, you will have to suffer a lot. Addiction to drugs is very much dangerous for our health and also will result in the most negative aspect of our life.