Two men were sentenced for receiving stolen agrochemicals, adulterating them, and altering their expiration dates to sell them in the province of Córdoba. The Federal Criminal Court No. 2 of Córdoba imposed sentences of 5 years and 6 months in prison and 3 years of probation for both defendants for carrying out these illegal activities along with a third deceased member.
José Alberto Albín was sentenced to more than 5 years in prison, while his accountant nephew, Rodrigo Albín Martín, received 3 years of probation and six months of professional disqualification, in addition to having to pay a fine of $3 million. Judge María Noel Costa considered them co-authors of crimes such as illegal association, aggravated concealment, and improper use of registered trademarks in relation to the sale of counterfeit branded agrochemical products.
The investigation began after reports of agrochemical thefts in Bell Ville, indicating that a family gang was involved in these criminal activities in a warehouse they owned. In the warehouse, expiration dates were altered and containers were split for subsequent commercialization in the agricultural market.
Dante Albín, the deceased, managed the warehouse, contacted suppliers of stolen products, and organized the adulteration and packaging of the agrochemicals for sale. José Albín was in charge of the distribution and sale of the adulterated products, while his nephew, Rodrigo Albín, had transport companies used in the logistics of distributing the products and containers.
In a raid carried out in May 2020, expired herbicides and labels used to change expiration dates were found. The activity was neither registered nor controlled by the authorities, posing a risk to health and the environment. At the same time, in 2020, Dante Albín's partner reported him for gender violence, which led to the discovery of conversations on his cell phone related to the sale of adulterated agrochemicals.
The case concluded with the convictions of the two defendants, as the third, deceased, was considered the leader of the gang. The evidence gathered demonstrated the involvement of the convicted in the adulteration and illegal commercialization of agrochemicals in the province of Córdoba.