Man sentenced to 26 and a half years in prison for extortion of fruit importer in Hedel

The court of appeals in Arnhem sentenced the leading suspect in the extortion of a fruit import company called De Groot Fresh Group in Hedel to the maximum sentence of 26 and a half years in prison. The punishment is equal to the recommendation of the Public Prosecution Service (OM).

Ali G, a 40-year-old from Bussum, was the driving force behind the extortion and threats of the board members at the fruit importer and the attacks on the homes of employees. The suspect followed the trial via a video connection.

The company received many threatening texts in which the suspect demanded huge sums of money after the company had found 400 kilos of cocaine in a shipment of bananas in May 2019.

This was then followed by attacks using fireworks bombs on homes, and several homes were also shot at in the autumn of 2020 and 2021. This resulted in a farmhouse being burned down. A total of 15 attacks were committed during this time.

The court sentenced G. to 19 years and 10 months in prison in September 2022. Unlike the district court, the court of appeal ruled that several attacks involved attempted murder, which is why the prison sentence imposed is higher in this case.

G.’s half-brother, Yassine A., was sentenced to 10 years in prison, also equal to the recommendation set by prosecutors. “He had the dirty work done by others and made sure that he kept himself out of the picture," the court said.

A list with the fruit company’s employee’s names on it was found at the suspect’s parental home. An error by the OM resulted in this list ending up in the criminal file, which gave G. the addresses that he used to commit the attacks.

“For the De Groot family and the region of Bommelerwaard, the attacks caused a lot of fear with a big group of people. Everybody on the staff was a potential target of an attack. This fear was also increased due to the fact that more and more damage was being caused,” the court said.

A total of 12 suspects were involved in the appeal. The court sentenced the rest of the men to jail sentences of two to 10 years for their contribution in the attacks. One suspect was acquitted.