At the beginning of the “Xuxas” network trial, Gurvinder considered that he had been deceived due to his inability to deal with the bureaucracy at customs, handing over the data to the defendants. He also told the court in Lisbon that on the day a shipment of 354 kilos of cocaine in the name of his company was seized by the authorities, without his knowledge, Ruben told him via message to flee.
“I knew Rúben Oliveira since 2009 and he introduced me to a friend, Luís Ferreira, in 2021, who imported fruit from Brazil at competitive prices. So I did business with him,” said Gurvinder, who is also a defendant in the case. The fruit was imported by air and, according to the defendant, it was Luís who handled customs clearance. “I didn’t understand the customs bureaucracy, it was Luís who took care of it and then the fruit was delivered to me.”
In court, Gurvinder said that he ordered three pallets of papaya in 2021 and that he sold the entire product, but faced with the use of the company’s data to import exotic fruit in which drugs were hidden, he stated that he knew nothing, that he was not responsible for orders.
“I gave my details to Luís for a customer file when importing the products, I don’t know why he used my details to import products that I didn’t authorize.” One of the products was açaí, which was left to rot in my warehouse. I called Luís several times and I wasn’t going to pick it up until I asked Rúben to speak to Luís. Then, Luís picked it up”, he added.
One of the orders made using Gurvinder’s company data was seized by authorities outside the airport, on February 14, 2022, and resulted in the arrest of five defendants. They were seven tons of papaya, in which 354 kilos of cocaine were hidden, valued at 17 million euros.
That day, in the morning, Gurvinder says he received a visit at his warehouse in Odivelas from a man he later learned was José Cabral, who said he was at the behest of Luís Ferreira with orders to pick up seven tons of papaya at the airport. “I said I hadn’t placed any order, but he said it was made in my name because it was cheaper and it was fresh papaya, so I accepted. I didn’t have money to pay at customs, but Mr. Cabral found it there, 4500 euros saying that I would pay later”.
Gurvinder and José Cabral rented a van, in addition to two that the merchant had, to pick up the product. The judge wanted to understand why the defendant didn’t find it strange “that they ordered orders to come and didn’t pick them up, like the pallets of açaí that were spoiling in the warehouse”. Gurvinder replied that Luís Ferreira said his mother was sick and so he always waited for the defendant. On the day the seven tons of papaya were collected, Luís Ferreira’s mother had passed away. “I didn’t want to bother Luís, I agreed to collect the product and then speak to Luís,” she said in court.
It was William da Cruz and José Cabral, defendants in the case, who went to look for her. In court, William da Cruz says that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was approached by the police, behind the wheel of the van after leaving the airport.
“That day, before going to the airport”, said the defendant, “José Cabral saw me in Bairro de Angola and asked me to accompany him in collecting a package from the airport. We are friends, I trusted him, and then We were going to have lunch in Odivelas, where I was going to train at around 7 pm”, said William.
The defendant was intercepted in a van containing drugs concealed in exotic fruit, which arrived in Portugal through Gurvinder’s company. “I had no idea what was inside, I trusted José Cabral because he did distribution work and I did him the favor of helping him. Then he dropped me off in Odivelas in time for training.” William said that he did not enter the airport, he just drove a van, and that at the time he was approached by the authorities he was waiting for José Cabral to go to Odivelas. “It was calm and watching stories on Instagram.”
This morning’s session at the Lisbon Court was interrupted for lunch and continues in the afternoon with the continuation of Gurvinder Singh’s hearing.
