During the trial against Quincy Promes and his cousin, all kinds of encrypted messages were read out today. Through these messages, the two are said to have had frequent contact with the extractors who removed many hundreds of kilos of cocaine from a load of sea salt.
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“Apparently the money came in for him literally and figuratively in buckets,” the public prosecutor concluded. The former Ajax player had also been tapped by the police, she said. “The recorded conversation in which suspect Promes talks about money and a counting machine is illustrative in that respect. That is what it is all about for suspects. Money.”
Ghost
This involved two shipments from Brazil containing sea salt containing a total of 1,362 kilos of cocaine. The second shipment was intercepted by Belgian customs. The Public Prosecution Service links the former football player to an account on the Sky messaging service called ‘Fantasma’, partly through digital data collected by a police observation team.
“What is especially important for him is that his phone traveled with him on six flights to various destinations abroad, and that we have been able to demonstrate that he was the only one on all six flights,” the press prosecutor said.
Robert Malewicz, Promes’ lawyer, spoke of a ‘very high demand’. After the demand was made, he had contact with his client, who has been playing for Spartak Moscow since 2021 and will not be extradited from Russia. According to his lawyer, the footballer did not send the messages and he should be acquitted. “He trusts us to do our job well,” Malewicz said.
In 2022, Malewicz said he expected Promes to come to the Netherlands for a hearing on another criminal case, namely the stabbing of his cousin. Yet Promes did not come. “No, that’s right. Of course he has obligations in football,” Malewicz said. “As everyone knows, there are significant contracts attached to that.” According to the lawyer, Promes is afraid that he will be arrested and has ‘chosen to respect his contract’.
Dubai
Promes was recently in Dubai, with which the Netherlands has an extradition treaty. Yet it was not possible to have him stopped at the airport, for example. “Of course, the Netherlands only has powers within the Netherlands,” says the press officer. “We cannot give orders to other countries in that regard. They must decide for themselves how to deal with it.”
Today, a prison sentence of 9 years was demanded against Promes and 8 years against his cousin. The Public Prosecution Service will also initiate proceedings to confiscate the money they allegedly earned from the transport.