Diplomatic suitcase: two Ecuadorians sentenced to 10 years in Italy

Ricardo Patino, Ecuador’s Foreign Minister

The President of the III Criminal Court of Milan, judge Piero Gamachio, along with Carla Galli and Valentina Boroni  found  the Ecuadorians Cristian Loor and Jorge Redrobán guilty, and afterwards sentenced them to 10 years in prison with a fine of 40,000 euros due to the discovery of liquid cocaine inside a diplomatic suitcase from Ecuador, which was seized by the police of Milan on January 16, 2012.

The investigations revealed that Loor, the main charactert of the play “Ruga, the Turtle” asked the consulate of Milan to help promote his work with the material. Later, Loor travelled to Ecuador and packed the alkaloid in 80 promotional mugs that were painted with the logo of Ruga Planet and had the sponsorship of the Consulate of Ecuador in Milan, it also had the support of businessman Jorge Redrobán, a friend of  Loor, who directed the staging. The jars were to be distributed during the tour of the play.

The defence of the convicted Ecuadorians requested the re-evaluation of their legal status in this case. Both, Loor and Redroban, pleaded not guilty from the beginning to the end of the judicial process. In this case Luis Carlos Hurtado, Tuliso Jesús Pazo Toro and Jean Paul Flores were also arrested, all of them are residents in Milan and were sentenced to 8, 6 and 4 years.