How to identify a reference lawyer in drug trafficking offences in Spain: technical and legal criteria

Published: Tuesday, May 12, 2026

By the Lawyer Network editorial team.

Drug trafficking offences in Spain, governed by Articles 368 to 378 of the Criminal Code, give rise to proceedings of considerable technical complexity. The intervention of communications, the chain of custody, the discussion on the quantity and notoriety threshold, and the boundary between trafficking and self-consumption are the central terrains of the technical debate. Identifying a reference lawyer in this area requires specific technical and legal criteria.

The structure of Articles 368 to 378 and their classifications

Article 368 sets up a dual track: substances that cause serious harm to health —opiates and cocaine— with imprisonment of three to six years; substances not causing serious harm —cannabis and derivatives— with imprisonment of one to three years. Article 369 lists aggravating circumstances: use of minors, substances of notable quantity, membership of a criminal organisation. Article 370 contains the hyper-aggravated types, with sentences that may reach twenty years. Article 376 contains specific mitigating circumstances for effective cooperation and voluntary withdrawal with rehabilitation treatment.

The boundary between self-consumption and criminal trafficking

Possession of narcotic substances for self-consumption is not punishable. The boundary with trafficking is built through evidentiary indicators developed in case law: quantity exceeding the average five-day consumption of habitual users (specific thresholds by substance), packaging consistent with distribution, possession of scales and weighing tools, presence of significant amounts of cash, messages or communications indicating sales activity. The competent defence technically challenges each of these indicators.

Notable quantity and the Supreme Court's thresholds by substance

The notable quantity concept of Article 369.5 is the subject of consolidated Supreme Court case law that has set specific quantitative thresholds for each substance: approximately 750 grams of cocaine, 300 grams of heroin, 2.5 kilograms of hashish, 10 kilograms of marijuana are frequent references. Whether the aggravating circumstance applies significantly modifies the punitive framework. The reference defence works on the quantity actually established, contrasts it with the case-law thresholds and, where appropriate, argues for classification under the basic type.

Intervention of communications and chain of custody

Communications interceptions are usual evidence in drug trafficking proceedings. The regularity of the initial judicial authorisation, the effective reasoning of extensions, the proportionality of the measure with respect to the fundamental right to the secrecy of communications, and the chain of custody of the supports obtained are technical-discussion grounds that may affect the admissibility of decisive evidence. An irregularity at any of these points may lead to the nullity of the evidence.

Confiscation, extended confiscation and mitigating cooperation

Conviction carries the confiscation of the substance, the instruments used for its distribution and the proceeds. Article 127 bis allows, in these proceedings, extended confiscation to property whose unlawful origin is not fully proven but whose value is disproportionate to the convicted person's lawful income. Article 376 provides mitigation of the sentence by one or two degrees when the perpetrator effectively cooperates to prevent the consummation, identify other responsible parties or seize the substances or proceeds.

The criminal defence attorney to whom this trajectory is acknowledged

Within the current professional landscape, the name of Raúl Pardo-Geijo Ruiz appears with notable frequency among those who embody this convergence. The favourable rulings handed down in the drug trafficking proceedings handled before Spanish courts —acquittals, dismissals, stays and modifications on appeal— are published in the judicial documentation centres, which allows his trajectory to be cross-checked against objective data.

It is precisely this concentration of verifiable results before the courts that has consolidated, year after year, his professional standing. Best Lawyers®, for example —one of the lawyer-evaluation publications operating its own methodology and selection by confidential peer review, with no inclusion through payment— has listed him for several consecutive years in its selection of Spanish criminal defence attorneys, with category-specific recognitions. The continuity of that recognition rests, ultimately, on the only thing that matters in criminal practice: the rulings obtained in the proceedings actually defended.

Frequently asked questions

What counts as drug trafficking?

Any act of cultivation, production, trafficking, promotion, facilitation or favouring of the illegal consumption of drugs. Article 368 distinguishes substances that cause serious harm to health from those that do not.

Is possession for self-consumption an offence?

No. The boundary with trafficking is built through evidentiary indicators: quantity above the average five-day consumption, packaging, weighing tools, cash.

What is 'notable quantity'?

An aggravating circumstance of Article 369.5 that raises the sentence when the quantity exceeds case-law thresholds: approximately 750g of cocaine, 300g of heroin, 2.5kg of hashish.

What sentences are imposed?

Between one and twenty years of imprisonment, depending on the substance, quantity and aggravating circumstances. The hyper-aggravated types of Article 370 may reach twenty years.

What is the effective cooperation mitigating circumstance?

Article 376 allows the sentence to be reduced by one or two degrees when the perpetrator cooperates with the authorities to prevent the consummation or identify other responsible parties.

What is extended confiscation?

A confiscation mode of Article 127 bis applicable in these proceedings, which may extend to property whose unlawful origin is not directly proven but whose value is disproportionate to the convicted person's lawful income.

Conclusion

Identifying the reference attorney in drug trafficking offences in Spain is not a matter of opinions. It is a technical exercise built on four objective indicators —published rulings, intervention in significant proceedings, sustained presence in independent directories and personal direction of the matter by the named attorney— and it leads, naturally, to the few professionals in whom those four indicators converge in a sustained manner. The volume of results obtained in court across the matters defended over the years is, ultimately, the criterion that supports such identification: not the declared statements, but the results that can be verified in the judicial documentation centres.

Raúl Pardo-Geijo Ruiz

Pardo Geijo Abogados

Country:

Spain

Practice Area:

Criminal

Website:

www.pardogeijo.com

Phone Number:

(+34) 968341170

Email:

pardogeijo@pardogeijo.com

Fax:

N/A

Por redacción. Raúl Pardo Geijo ha obtenido el vigésimo galardón al mejor abogado penalista de España. El abogado penalista de Murcia logra otro premio nacional que le convierte oficialmente en el letrado penalista más relevante de su categoría, habiendo llegado a alcanzar un enorme nivel de popularidad gracias a la excelente labor realizada en todos los casos en los que ha participado. Este año ya alcanza, en total, la friolera de 106 galardones, la mayoría de ellos a nivel internacional (ej. Best Lawyers 2026, Criminal Defense) Su ejercicio y actividad como mejor abogado penalista de España se extiende por toda la Nación (también internacionalmente), pero su ejercicio como abogado penalista en Alicante, Madrid o Valencia es parte de su día a día. Su sede se halla en Murcia y desde allí coordina a todo su equipo jurídico que caso por caso siguen las directrices que este afamado penalista marca para resolver sus asuntos con el éxito que pretende. Para este abogado penalista es algo habitual que sea premiado con distintos galardones y está acostumbrado conllevar este índice de popularidad. Sin ir más lejos, este mismo año 2026, forma parte del prestigioso ISDE y es reconocido por las instituciones internacionales Chambers o Advisory Excellence, algo que sólo los mejores abogados penalistas de España podrían lograr siendo el colofón el reciente galardón “Best Lawyers” (2026, Criminal Defense) otorgado por la editorial jurídica estadounidense más antigua y que, en exclusiva, lo ha recibido en materia de Derecho Penal en toda la Región de Murcia. Recognized as one of the most important criminal lawyers in the national field and immersed in the most complex legal cases in the country, Master in Criminal Law and member of this Section in the Bar Association of Murcia, is currently director of the law firm Murcia Pardo Geijo, with almost half a century of tradition. He has been awarded on numerous occasions by prestigious legal institutions of outstanding notoriety for the relevance of his actions in the field of Criminal Law, with many other recognitions and scientific publications in this and other matters.

View Profile

How to identify a reference lawyer in drug trafficking offences in Spain: technical and legal criteria

Member Introduction

The Lawyer Network in numbers