The court has rejected the deal of the suspects of setting up a cocaine line to Brazil and the Public Prosecution Service (OM). The suspects signed up to three years in prison, which concluded their case and would not appeal. The judges want to continue the case on a ‘regular basis’. This means that all cases are discussed substantively and in public during the session.
The aim of that agreement was to speed up the settlement of cases, which could otherwise take years. There were clear advantages to this, such as considerable cost savings in court time and the suspects know where they stand more quickly. But the judge also sees clear disadvantages in addition to those advantages. The courts in Limburg and Rotterdam have already agreed to such a deal. The Supreme Court has yet to rule on the legal basis of those deals. If the Supreme Court says that such deals are not legally permissible, they can still go in the trash.
Moreover, according to the judge, such a deal could also be detrimental to the five who have signed. After all, the court can come to a different opinion than the Public Prosecution Service with regard to the evidence and reach an acquittal. Or impose a lesser penalty, if a part is deemed not proven.
According to the judge, the biggest stumbling block was that five of the eight suspects in the drug line case signed up for the deal. Nearly half of them renounced this agreement. The court sees no point in splitting the group. “The unity of justice must be guarded,” the judge said. Moreover, the cases are not yet so old or complex that they cannot be dealt with in a conventional manner.
The men from Emmen, Utrecht and Amsterdam, among others, are accused of participating in a criminal organization with the aim of importing cocaine. The drugs would be hidden in bags of salt and metal. To this end, the group had contacts with suppliers in South America. The case came to the attention of the police by accident.
In 2018, the office in Emmen of one of the suspects – 53-year-old hardware dealer Willem B. – was covered with listening devices. The officers hoped to hear more about the murder of Ralf Meinema in March 2017. Meinema’s body was found in the trunk of his own car.
Willem B. was not a suspect in that murder case. That was Hans O. from Emmen, who was later arrested for possible involvement in the murder case and was recently acquitted by the court. Hans O. is the brother of 49-year-old Jannes O. from Emmen, B.’s co-defendant in the drug case. The conversations in B.’s office were not about the murder, but about importing cocaine from South America. In September 2019, a salt cargo containing 71 kilograms of coke was intercepted in a port in Brazil, which was ready for shipment to the Netherlands.
Then officers overheard conversations about a new cargo hidden in iron and metal. In 2021, officers raided homes and buildings at six locations and arrested seven suspects. The eighth was in prison at the time for another offence. It is not yet known when the drug case will continue.