Up to eight years in prison for cocaine smuggling by Zeeland port workers

The District Court in Breda on Wednesday imposed prison sentences of up to eight years in the case of ten port employees who were suspected of smuggling cocaine through the port of Vlissingen. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) had demanded prison sentences of up to 8.5 years for importing a total of about 1,800 kilograms of cocaine, divided over five shipments, but the court did not find enough evidence to support all of the OM's assertions.

The highest penalty went to Ali B. from Goes. He allegedly gave instructions to his colleagues. The other more significant sentences of four, five, six and seven years went to the other co-defendants. All but two of them had to immediately report back to prison after the verdict. According to the court, this was clearly a case of a criminal organization whose purpose was to import cocaine via the port of Vlissingen.

Most of the ten suspects in the case were arrested on July 1, 2020, during the largest drug operation ever organized by the police in Zeeland. On that day, about four hundred officers raided homes and business premises in Vlissingen, Middelburg, Goes, and elsewhere.

One suspect was sentenced to three years in prison. He is the only one who has confessed to the crimes for which he has been accused. He said that he was involved in the transportation of drugs seven different times, and that he earned 25,000 euros per transport. Due to his attitude during the procedure, he was punished more leniently than the co-defendants.

The largest batch of cocaine that the men allegedly brought to Vlissingen was 1,200 kilograms. In December 2019, that batch was hidden on two pallets of bananas from South America.

Most of the evidence in the case comes from communications intercepted when they were sent through EncroChat, a provider of encrypted phones.