Dutch international Quincy Promes (32) was sentenced to six years in prison, the Amsterdam District Court said on Wednesday.
The Spartak Moscow striker smuggled more than a ton of cocaine to the Netherlands.
The president of the court, Mr. Vaandrager estimated that Promes had played ‘a crucial role’ in the importation of 1,363 kilograms of cocaine from Brazil in 2020, via the Belgian port of Antwerp to the Netherlands, with the help from an accomplice. The latter, found guilty of the same charges, as well as money laundering, was also sentenced to six years in prison.
The judgment is based in particular on telephone tapping and encrypted messages, which the player sent under the pseudonym ‘Fantasma’. Prosecutors had requested a nine-year prison sentence for Quincy Promes, who pleaded not guilty and will appeal according to his lawyers.
‘Appropriate’ sentence
Mr Vaandrager argued in his judgment that the striker was an example to many, especially young people, because of his footballing skills. ‘The suspect regularly makes headlines, is active on social media and has fans around the world,’ the judge said.
‘It is all the more serious that he attempted to increase his wealth… by participating in major international drug trafficking (…) All things considered, the court considers that a sentence of six years imprisonment is appropriate.’
Fearing being arrested by the Dutch police, the player with 50 caps with the Oranje was not present at the Amsterdam district court to hear the sentence, a spokesperson told AFP. Placed under an international arrest warrant, he has so far not been extradited by Russia.
Quincy Promes has also already been sentenced to 18 months in prison in connection with another case, for stabbing a cousin over a stolen necklace.
/ATS