Footballer Quincy Promes will also be prosecuted for importing 1,362 kg of cocaine

Dutch professional football player Quincy Promes (31) will be prosecuted along with a 31-year-old man from Purmerend for importing cocaine, a spokesman for the Public Prosecution Service (OM) confirmed on Tuesday.

The Public Prosecution Service suspects Promes and the co-defendant of importing two batches of cocaine via the Western Scheldt and the Port of Antwerp in January 2020. The first batch involved 650 blocks of cocaine, each weighing one kilogram. The second batch totaled more than 712 kilograms, the OM alleged.

The 31-year-old man from Purmerend was arrested in Krommenie on April 25 on suspicion of drug trafficking and money laundering. His arrest had not been made public before Tuesday.

On Monday afternoon, June 5, the District Court in Amsterdam will hold a first pre-trial hearing in the new case involving an investigation named “Porto.” Promes will not be present due to contractual obligations at his Russian football club, Spartak Moscow. He also fears being arrested if he enters the Netherlands, because the Public Prosecution Service wants to interview him about his alleged involvement in drug trafficking.

It was already known that Promes's phone was tapped. This emerged in another criminal case about the violent assault of his cousin, in which tapped telephone conversations were used as evidence. Promes is alleged to have stabbed his cousin in the knee during the overnight period from July 24 to 25, 2020 at a party in Abcoude.

The OM accused him of aggravated assault and demanded two years in prison. That case will continue on Monday.

No date has yet been announced for the Amsterdam court to handle the trial regarding the Porto case. If Promes stays in Russia and refuses to return the Netherlands, the case can be heard by the court without him in attendance.