Footballer Quincy Promes linked to drug investigation

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) linked the drug trafficking case around Piet W. with professional football player Quincy Promes. According to the OM, Promes paid 250,000 euros to W. to settle a debt that arose after a rip deal involving 400 kilograms of cocaine that belonged to W. In a rip deal, one party leaves with the money and the drugs.

W. denies that he had contact with Promes. But according to the prosecutor, the footballer’s number was found on one of W.’s phones. “It seems that the suspect is not telling the truth,” the prosecutor said in the Rotterdam court on Wednesday in a hearing against W.

The former Ajax player is involved in another lawsuit. The OM accuses him of attempted murder or manslaughter - Promes allegedly stabbed a cousin in the knee at a family party. He is currently playing for the Russian football club Spartak Moscow.

Piet W., 54, was arrested in October at his home in Almere. He is accused of two assassinations and large-scale cocaine trafficking. According to the authorities, W. is behind the murder of Kelvin Maynard (32). The former professional football player was shot dead on 18 September 2019 in Amsterdam Zuidoost. W. is also accused of murdering 23-year-old Genciel Feller. He was killed on 2 September 2019 in Curacao after barely surviving another attempt on his life in Almere a month earlier.

W. denies knowing the victims at all, his lawyer Ruud van Boom said. The lawyer believes the OM is using smoke and mirrors to create a certain image of his client. About the link with Promes, Van Boom said: “The fact that 250,000 euros were paid is unsubstantiated gossip based on information from the Criminal Intelligence Team.” Van Boom asked the court to end W.’s pre-trial detention.

The prosecutor said that the investigation into W.’s case is still ongoing. The prosecutor wants to question more witnesses, interrogate co-defendants, and also expects to make more arrests.

One of the suspects that the authorities are hunting in this case is Jos Leijdekkers, alias Bollle Jos. He allegedly recently threatened former Justice Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus, prompting extra security around him. The authorities previously issued a reward of 75,000 euros for information leading to his arrest.

The case is not yet closed, the prosecutor said. “In our view, legal and convincing evidence is not there yet,” the prosecutor acknowledged. Further investigation is being done into the suspects’ phones and computers. The OM is also awaiting responses to requests for legal assistance from Spain, Portugal, and the United States, among others.