Drug trafficker caught in Ibiza after officers posed as delivery drivers faces seven years in prison: TSJB upholds sentence

The Civil and Criminal Chamber of the High Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands (TSJB) has upheld the seven-year prison sentence imposed on a 31-year-old Colombian man for agreeing to receive at his home in Ibiza a package containing one kilo of ketamine and more than 200 grams of MDMA. He had accepted the task in exchange for €600, intending to later deliver the drugs to third parties.

The defendant, who was residing irregularly in Spain, had arranged with unidentified individuals to receive a postal shipment containing drugs, which he was then supposed to distribute. The package arrived at Ibiza Airport on 26 June 2025, where Customs Surveillance officers and the Guardia Civil detected that it contained narcotic substances and requested judicial authorisation for a controlled delivery after replacing the drugs with an inert substance.

Inside, officers found 199.49 grams of MDMA with a purity of 60.17%, as well as a bag containing 996.62 grams of a mixture of ketamine and MDMA. After accounting for purity, the total amount seized amounted to 221.19 grams of MDMA and 580.32 grams of pure ketamine.

The following day, officers posed as delivery drivers and went to the defendant’s home. It was his sister who received the parcel and signed for it, at which point she was arrested. The package never physically reached the accused.

The court dismissed the defence’s argument that this was merely an attempted offence, stressing that in postal drug trafficking cases the crime is considered complete once there is an agreement to receive the shipment and the transport process has begun, even if the recipient never physically handles the drugs. The defendant had agreed to act as the recipient and provided his address for the operation.

Appeal rejected on two grounds

After receiving his seven-year sentence, the defendant appealed to the TSJB, seeking recognition of a highly qualified mitigating circumstance for confession, as well as mitigation based on drug addiction. Both arguments have now been rejected.

Regarding the confession, the court noted that the defendant voluntarily appeared before the Ibiza Public Prosecutor’s Office on 18 August 2025 and admitted responsibility for the package. However, it concluded that this admission did not meet the exceptional level required. According to the ruling, “he did not provide a degree of cooperation with the Administration of Justice that substantially exceeds the ordinary scope” of such a mitigating factor.

As for drug addiction, the TSJB acknowledged evidence of substance use but found no proof of serious addiction or a direct link between that use and the offence. The ruling summarises this with a clear statement: “The mitigating factor of drug addiction is reserved for addicts who traffic in order to finance their consumption, not for traffickers who happen to consume”.

With this reasoning, the Balearic High Court dismissed the appeal and upheld the original sentence “in all its aspects”, although it may still be appealed before the Supreme Court.