The 37-year-old Ali G. has to go to jail for 19 years and ten months for violently extorting a fruit company in Hedel, Gelderland. That is what the court in Arnhem has Tuesday determined. After G. lost part of his cocaine business from the company, he incited several men into what the court labeled an “unprecedented terror campaign.” The Public Prosecution Service had demanded the highest possible sentence against G., a prison sentence of 26 years and seven months.
In 2019, employees of the fruit company in Hedel, one of the largest in the country, found cocaine among the bananas that the company traded. The police, who were called in, eventually seized 400 kilograms of cocaine and destroyed the trade. Five days later, the co-owner of the company received a threatening text message. Message: pay a fine of 1.2 million euros, otherwise we will liquidate an employee of your company. „We have a very long breath, and the police won’t be guarding you forever.”
The fruit company refused to bow to the threat, G. followed his word. Partly from prison, he ordered a series of attacks with fireworks bombs and shelling of the homes of (former) employees of the company. It concerns a total of fifteen attacks in 2020 and 2021, in which at least a residential farm burned down. “The entire Bommelerwaard has been living in fear of attacks for years. The suspects are partly responsible for this feeling of insecurity,” the court said.
Also read: Fruit company De Groot will not pay ‘not a cent’ even after fifteen attacks