Prosecutor asks for 9 years in prison for Promes for drug trafficking

Dutch prosecutors on Wednesday demanded a nine-year prison sentence for Spartak Moscow and former Sevilla player Quincy Promes for his alleged involvement in cocaine trafficking in two shipments that travelled from Brazil to the Belgian port of Antwerp in January 2020.

The Public Prosecutor's Office accuses Promes and another suspect, both 32 years old, of 'importing, exporting, transporting and possessing 1,362.9 kilos of cocaine hidden in a shipment of sea salt from Brazil' and allegedly distributing the drugs in two containers to be moved by boat through Western Scheldt (Dutch province of Zeeland) to the port of Antwerp.

The prosecutor asked for 8 years in prison and a fine of 10,000 euros for the second suspect, who is also accused of money laundering.

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

"A listening device was placed in the suspect's car and he was monitored. The veracity of TCI's information was confirmed, in part, by phones seized from other people in which conversations involving the suspects were found. Many chat messages made it clear that both were involved in the entry, removal, transport and sale of these 2 shipments," the prosecution notes.

The drugs were removed from one of the containers at the end of January 2020, while the second container was intercepted in time by the Belgian police.

"It is particularly bad that the suspect living in Russia normalises and almost idealises cocaine trafficking," said the prosecution, which stressed that this drug "represents a serious threat to public health" and warned that this case deals with "such a large quantity that this batch should have been destined for further distribution and trade".

Furthermore, it considers that Promes, "having money to invest" in this illegal business, "is on a high rung on the organisational ladder" of the drug trafficking group.

In June last year, the Dutch judiciary 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.

Ajax, the team the Dutch international was playing for when he was arrested in 2020, sold him 2 months later to Spartak Moscow for €8.5m plus variables, almost half the €15.7m plus variables it paid Sevilla, the team he played for during the 2018-19 season.

The footballer, who denied any involvement in drug trafficking, was not involved in either of the 2 legal proceedings and officially resides in Russia, where he has been playing professional football since 2021.