Dutch Prosecution Demands Promes to Return 8 Million Euros from Drug Proceeds

The Dutch Public Prosecution Service has demanded that former Dutch footballer Quincy Promes pay 8 million euros, considering that he earned this money from cocaine trafficking. This came during a confiscation case session that commenced on Friday at the Amsterdam court.

Promes, aged 34, is facing this case concurrently with the ongoing appeals in two other criminal cases. The prosecution asserts that the former player for Ajax, Spartak Moscow, and Twente made substantial profits from cocaine smuggling and is demanding their full recovery.

Promes had previously been convicted and sentenced to six years in prison after being found guilty of involvement in smuggling over 1,350 kilograms of cocaine through the Port of Antwerp, where the court deemed he played a coordinating and leading role in the operation. He is also facing a forfeiture case alongside a relative, whom the prosecution is demanding to repay only 62,000 euros.

The defense requested a postponement of the case pending the appeal, citing new information related to encrypted communications used as evidence in the original case. However, the court denied the request, stating that confiscation procedures can be based on an existing judicial ruling even if it is not yet final. The court also allowed the testimony of a witness believed to have information about payments related to drug import operations.