Ex-Dutch international gets six years for coke smuggling

A Dutch court sentenced former Ajax and international winger Quincy Promes to six years in prison on Wednesday, convicting him of smuggling more than one thousand kilogrammes of cocaine.

The 32-year-old, now playing for Spartak Moscow, was not in court to hear the sentence, a spokesperson told AFP.

Previous attempts to extradite him from Moscow have failed and on Wednesday,judges at the Amsterdam District Court issued a warrant for his arrest.

Summing up in court, presiding judge M. Vaandrager said Promes was an example to many, especially young people, due to his footballing talent.

“The suspect is regularly in the news, is active on social media, and has fans worldwide,” the judge said.

“This makes it even worse that he has tried to increase his wealth… by participating in major international drug trafficking.

“All things considered, the court finds a six-year prison sentence appropriate,” the judge said in a statement.

The court said Promes had smuggled a total of 1,363 kilogrammes of cocaine from Brazil in 2020, through the Belgian port of Antwerp into the Netherlands with the help of an accomplice.

The drugs haul was stashed in bags of salt in containers on board a ship — later partially intercepted by customs officials.

The ruling was based on wire-tapped conversations and encrypted messages Promes had sent under the pseudonym “Fantasma.”

Prosecutors had called for a nine-year jail sentence but the court ruled they had based their request on previous cases where the punishment was too harsh.

Lawyers for Promes had entered a plea of not guilty.

The footballer was to appeal Wednesday’s judgement, his lawyers told the NOS public broadcaster after the verdict.

– ‘Flight risk’ –
Judges also called Promes a “flight risk.”

“The suspect