A priest who officiated at a parish in western Spain has been temporarily dismissed by the church after he was implicated by the courts in a Viagra trafficking case.
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This priest, stationed in a church in Don Benito, a town of 35,000 inhabitants in Extremadura, was arrested on Monday “for alleged drug trafficking,” the diocese of Plasencia, on which this parish depends, admitted in a press release on Thursday .
At the end of his police custody, he was “released on probation” by the examining magistrate in charge of the investigation, the diocese explains, expressing its “pain” and “dismay at the suffering and 'outrage'”. excited by the affair.
Pending the “clarifications” that the investigation will provide, “it was considered appropriate” to “temporarily withdraw” him from the public exercise of his duties, the press release said, but it was “out of caution” and “respect” for calls these people involved.
According to several Spanish media outlets, the priest in question was said to have been involved in the trafficking of Viagra, aphrodisiacs and narcotics in the company of a man posing as his lover, who was also arrested during the police operation and has since been taken into custody.
The two men, who had been under surveillance for several months, used the accommodation rented by the priest to store these products, reports the online medium El Español, which assures that the news caused “disbelief” among the faithful of the parish.
In its press release, the Diocese of Plasencia said it was “interested in cooperating with the judiciary” to shed light on the matter. The priest in question could benefit from “appropriate psychological and spiritual support,” he adds.