The container in which 1,120 kilos of coke was found between a load of cocoa beans in the port of Amsterdam in July last year may have been checked in South America before. This emerged today in a preliminary hearing at the court in Alkmaar.
In mid-July 2022, the police intercepted a 1,120 kilo load of coke in a truck full of cocoa beanswho had just left with a freight guard from the Amsterdam Westelijk Havengebied.
A total of four suspects are on trial in the North Holland drug case, including a former port employee, a former employee and a truck driver (55) from Enkhuizen.
According to lawyer Vito Shukrula, who represents the 30-year-old main suspect AS from Alkmaar, the container with coke has already been checked in South America.
A ‘switch’ method
“The police file shows that the detectives have asked via Interpol in South America whether a check has been carried out on the container. This would have been confirmed. Was cocaine found then or was it empty? I want clarification on that.”
The container reportedly entered the Westelijk Havengebied in Amsterdam via Rotterdam and Cartagena (Colombia) – the cargo originally comes from Ecuador, South America.
Four North Hollanders suspected
Justice has a total of four suspects in the picture. The 30-year-old AS from Alkmaar, who is seen by the Public Prosecution Service as the ‘pivot of the story‘. He reportedly worked at the office of a Zaans transport company at the time of the arrest, including a container terminal in Amsterdam.
The other suspects are the Amsterdam IZ (41), 27-year-old KK from Purmerend (a former employee of the transport company) and 55-year-old J. van C. from Enkhuizen, who is said to have driven the truck. According to sources around the investigation, he would have received a request to ‘pick up something and take it somewhere’.
All four suspects deny having anything to do with drug trafficking. Three of them are still in custody. Co-defendant AS, who was the only one present in court today, has been allowed to await the continuation of his criminal case in freedom for a few months.
Shukrula suspects that ‘drug traffickers’ moved this shipment of coke into the container intercepted by the police. He speaks of the so-called ‘switch’ method, in which large loads of narcotics are moved from one container to another, with the intention of bypassing customs controls.
“This container was in Rotterdam for a certain time before it was transported to Amsterdam. What happened in the meantime and were the suspects aware of this?”
The Public Prosecution Service sees it differently. “I don’t believe that this load of cocaine from another container has only been stopped in the Netherlands. Not one of the suspects has made a statement that fits this explanation,” said the public prosecutor.
Text continues.
According to him, the suspects worked in a ‘very sophisticated way’ and left ‘no digital traces’. “They didn’t accidentally pick up the wrong container from the site. They prepared it well in advance.”
The court in Alkmaar has yet to decide on the submitted research wishes. The case against the four suspects will be dealt with substantively at the end of September.