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The Provincial People's Court of Granma sentenced a 30-year-old young man to seven years in prison after he was detained in Bayamo during a nighttime operation, when two small packets of synthetic cannabinoids were found hidden inside a 10 peso bill, along with large amounts of cash, reported this Saturday by the state newspaper La Demajagua.
The trial, described by authorities as "exemplary," was held in the First Criminal Chamber of the provincial court as part of the Fifth National Exercise of Prevention and Confrontation of Crime, launched on May 18 by the Cuban regime from the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
The accused was apprehended in the early hours of the morning during a police operation in an area of Bayamo. At the time of the intervention, he was carrying substances commonly known as "chemicals" or "paper," hidden inside a bill, along with an unspecified amount of cash.
Although the accused "acknowledged the possession, claiming it was for personal use," the court dismissed that argument.
The judges deemed that "the circumstances of the arrest, the manner in which the drugs were concealed, and the presence of cash at the time of the incident indicated the commission of the crime," as defined in article 231, section 1, paragraph a) of the Cuban Penal Code.
The court noted the absence of the defendant's criminal record, but "concluded that the severity of the events required a firm criminal response," the source detailed.
The sentence included, in addition to seven years of imprisonment, accessory sanctions of deprivation of rights and the confiscation of the items related to the crime. The seized drugs will be incinerated in accordance with the law.
An appeal may be filed against the ruling before the Criminal Chamber of the People's Supreme Court.
The case of Granma adds to a series of sentences handed down in recent weeks as part of the same operation.
The Holguín Tribunal sentenced a man to eight years for trafficking 11 slips of "chemical", while the Cienfuegos Tribunal sentenced four defendants to between four and six years for the same crime.
The consumption of synthetic cannabinoids has surged in Cuba. Due to their use, medical emergencies increased from 467 cases in 2024 to 886 in 2025, according to official data.
Authorities have identified at least 40 variants of these substances circulating on the island, and experts from the Ministry of the Interior have warned about versions adulterated with fentanyl, formaldehyde, animal anesthetics, and phenobarbital.
In 2026, Cuban courts have handed down sentences ranging from four years to 15 years in prison for similar crimes, which demonstrates a tough judicial policy that, so far, has not managed to curb the rise of drug trafficking on the island.
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