The Lawyer José Antonio Villalba Zayas Ordered to Preventive Detention for Alleged Drug Trafficking and Criminal Association

He lawyer José Antonio Villalba Zayasprosecuted for alleged possession and trafficking of narcotic substancescriminal association and marketing of dangerous drugs; will save preventive prison in the Emboscada Regional Penitentiaryby order of the Specialized Guarantee Judge in Organized Crime Rosarito Montaníawho intervenes in this case for his colleague Gustavo Amarilla.

The magistrate responded to the request of prosecutor Guillermo Sanabria and considered that there is both the danger of flight as danger of obstruction to the present criminal process, taking into account the high expectation of punishment for the punishable acts attributed to the lawyer, which range from 5 years up to 25 years in prison.

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The defense of Villalba Zayas requested the Guarantee Court to apply a less burdensome measure to preventive detention, alleging that the defendant has roots in the country, adding the life and residence certificate, work certificate and birth certificate of his minor daughter. He also offered personal surety and royal surety about a property.

However, Judge Rosarito Montanía considered that “we are faced with punishable acts considered transnationalthat have high expectations of punishment“Therefore, there are no guarantees that reasonably prove that with the application of other less burdensome measures, the danger of flight can be avoided, at this procedural moment.”

Court arguments for preventive detention

To order the preventive detention of the accused, the magistrate reasoned that we are facing a very complex case of great magnitude, not only due to the number of people involved, but also due to the negative consequences of the punishable acts investigated.

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In this sense, Montanía also highlights that drug trafficking is one of the most harmful phenomena of organized crime, not only because of the high crime rates, but also because of the threat it represents to public health. He adds that substance trafficking produces negative economic and social consequences not only in our country, but throughout the world.

“This type of criminal activities cannot be minimized, which are committed by organized structures that tend to generate strategies and methods to encourage the escape of their peers and contribute to the obstruction of evidence,” the Guarantee judge points out in her resolution.

The Abg. José Antonio Villalba Zayas was declared in rebellion and had an arrest warrant since October 19, 2022until he was arrested in the middle of a public street by police officers. 23rd Police Station of Asunciónthis Wednesday October 25.

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Lawyer’s cell phone was used to coordinate cocaine trafficking, according to the Prosecutor’s Office

The accusation indicates that at the beginning of 2022 the Public Ministry was made aware of the existence of an alleged criminal organization dedicated to international drug traffickingmade up of citizens of Paraguayan nationality, as well as possible foreigners, who would be operating in areas of the Central Department and in the Bolivia border.

The criminal gang was dedicated to trafficking of narcotic substances by land and airspecifically cocainewith the purpose of marketing said product partly within the national territory, and in larger quantities to send it back to foreign countries.

The modus operandi of the organization, always according to the hypothesis of the Public Ministry, would consist of the collection of large quantities of narcotic substancespresumably cocaine, which would enter the country by land and/or air, possibly from Boliviawhich are transferred to clandestine warehouses for safekeeping.

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These illicit substances were subsequently packaged and delivered to other criminal organizations that are dedicated to marketing and exporting them again to foreign countries, according to the tax indictment.

To carry out their criminal activities, the members of this criminal organization would have used several telephone lines, through which they had coordinated the different movements of the criminal gang. The investigators identified that the telephone number used for these operations would be in the name of the lawyer Villalba Zayas.