Falk is charged with four counts of particularly serious drug offences in the case, which includes a total of more than 2.5 tonnes of cocaine.
Prosecutor Lars Lindman believes that the 53-year-old has, among other things, planned and organised the transport of cocaine from South America to Europe across the Atlantic.
In all parts, he does it together with others. It's everything from cocaine distributors in Colombia to people who drive boats or are involved in financing. But he has a lot of contacts and is very driven, I would say, Lindman tells TT.
Refused to participate
The crimes are alleged to have been committed between 2020 and 2021 in international waters and in countries including Spain, Colombia and Costa Rica.
Jonas Falk has refused to take part in the hearing because he believes the case should be tried in a Spanish court.
Falk's lawyer, Max Ahlgren, believes that the decision to move the case to Sweden has made it more difficult to mount an effective defence. According to Ahlgren, the defence has also not been given access to all relevant evidence in the case.
"I have had to present my views on the material that we have had access to. The problem is that the defence believes that there is material that we have not had access to," Max Ahlgren tells TT.
Sky ECC
The prosecution is largely based on evidence from the encrypted communications service Sky ECC, which in the current case was intercepted in Spain by French police. The defence argues that this evidence should have been tested in Spain.
It is the French police authority that has done this. We do not know how the information was handled, so it is deeply problematic. But I hope that the district court takes this into account, these difficulties that the defence has faced.
Max Ahlgren demanded in his plea that Jonas Falk, who is already serving a prison sentence for involvement in an extortion racket against financier Joachim Kuylenstierna, be completely acquitted.
"In the event that he is convicted according to the prosecutor's allegations, I think the request is a few years too high," he says.
The verdict will be announced on July 28.
53-year-old Jonas Falk was sentenced last year to four years and ten months in prison for involvement in a high-profile extortion racket against financier Joachim Kuylenstierna, former CEO of the listed investment company Fastator.
Jonas Falk has also previously been convicted of several bank robberies, among other things.
In 2010, he was also identified as the main suspect in one of Sweden's largest drug cases. The case, which came to be known as "Operation Playa", ended in an acquittal for Jonas Falk in the Court of Appeal. For the 3.5 years he was forced to spend in custody, he was awarded damages of 3.6 million kronor.
