Dutch Public Prosecutor's Office confirms Promes' arrest

The Emirati authorities have arrested, at the request of the Netherlands, Quincy Promes, Spartak Moscow and former Sevilla player, who has been sentenced to prison in two criminal cases, one of them to six years in prison for trafficking more than 1,350 kilos of cocaine in two shipments from Brazil to the Belgian port of Antwerp in 2020.

According to the Dutch Public Prosecutor's Office, the footballer was arrested in Dubai "after constructive cooperation between the authorities of the Emirates and the Netherlands". The Public Prosecutor's Office does not confirm when it made this arrest request and whether it has already submitted a formal extradition request to the Netherlands, which has a bilateral extradition treaty with the Emirates.

The 32-year-old former Ajax player was convicted last February of drug trafficking, but the trial was held in absentia because the defendant lives in Russia, where he plays for Spartak Moscow from 2021.

Promes is accused of "importing, exporting, transporting and possessing 1,362.9 kilos of cocaine concealed in a shipment of sea salt from Brazil" and of "distributing the drugs in two containers to be moved by ship via Western Scheldt (Dutch province of Zeeland) to the port of Antwerp".

 

March 13, 2024

The Criminal Intelligence Team (TCI) of the Dutch police received information that Promes was involved in cocaine trafficking, owned crypto phones and allegedly invested 200,000 euros in the illegal business, and decided to launch a criminal investigation into the Amsterdam-born footballer.

Last year, the Dutch judiciary also sentenced Promes to one and a half years in prison for stabbing and "causing serious physical injury" to his cousin in the knee during a family party in July 2020. The defendant has appealed this conviction and, in a civil case last month, it was ruled that Promes must pay compensation to the victim.

Ajax, the team the Netherlands international was playing for when he was arrested in 2020, sold him two months later to Spartak Moscow for €8.5m plus variables, almost half the €15.7m plus variables it paid to Sevilla, the team he played for during the 2018-19 season.