Quincy Promes, Spartak Moscow striker, was sentenced in the Netherlands to six years in prison for being involved in cocaine trafficking. In 2023 another 18-month sentence in absentia for stabbing his cousin
“What drove a successful footballer to become so deeply involved in crime?”. This is the question that Dutch magistrates asked before sentence Quincy Promes to six years in prison because he was involved in cocaine trafficking. But the former Ajax and Netherlands star currently plays for Spartak Moscow and has decided to stay in Russia to avoid prison. After the sentencing, the prosecutor stated that the player thinks he is “untouchable” in Moscow.
Drug trafficking from Brazil to Holland
But what did Promes do? The footballer would have facilitated the entry into the Netherlands of 1,370 kilograms of cocaine. The drugs (two lots of 650 kg and 713 kilos hidden in a load of sea salt) were seized in Antwerp from Brazil in January 2020. The investigation was started after telephone interceptions of drug traffickers who also involved Promes.
In 2023 a conviction for stabbing a man
The 32-year-old Amsterdam striker had already been arrested in December 2020 and then sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2023 for stabbing his cousin during a family party. The argument had broken out over a necklace, presumably stolen. Even in that case Promes had pleaded not guilty to “attempted manslaughter” and had been sentenced in absentia because he had already moved to Spartak.
Ajax star and 50 appearances for the Netherlands
The six-year prison sentence is, according to the judges, an “exemplary decision” motivated by the fact that “the suspect is a professional player and a public figure”. The Netherlands is obviously in shock over the Promes affair. The striker wore the orange shirt from the Under-19s up to the senior national team where he boasts 50 appearances. He grew up in Ajax, where he also played from 2019 to 2021 with Erik ten Hag as coach. The technician himself had defended him on the charge of “attempted murder”. “He is always an Ajax player, even off the pitch. I don’t have to forgive him because he hasn’t done anything,” Ten Hag had said. Promes failed at Sevilla (2018-2019 season) and was long chased by Arsenal. But his name is linked to Spartak Moscow where he played from 2014 to 2018 and where he returned in 2021.