Three suspects in custody for large-scale cocaine trafficking

The police recently arrested three suspects of large-scale cocaine trafficking. They will be held in custody for three months. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) suspects them of importing several large batches of cocaine into the Netherlands. The court in Amsterdam decided on Tuesday to extend their pre-trial detention.

It concerns a 54-year-old man from Amsterdam and a 53-year-old man from Houten. The third suspect is a 48-year-old man arrested in Curacao on 19 September and was handed over to the Netherlands shortly afterward. The police seized motorcycles and expensive clothing from the suspects.

The OM suspects the men of involvement in transporting two large consignments of cocaine that came to Antwerp by ship from South American in the autumn of 2015. The drugs were destined for the Netherlands. The man arrested in Curacao is also suspected of importing two more batches of cocaine, including in 2020.

The police intercepted and decrypted the suspects' communications. This showed that the man from Curacao had a managerial and organizing role. He had access to various people who helped retrieve the cocaine from the containers in the port of Antwerp and in transporting and distributing the cocaine. According to the OM, the 53-year-old man from Houten was an essential link in importing and distributing the drugs. The OM believes the 54-year-old man from Amsterdam was important in the transport from Belgium to the Netherlands. 

The judiciary believes that the suspects also used port employees in Antwerp to facilitate the trafficking.