The joy seems short-lived. In the fight against large-scale cocaine smuggling via the port of Rotterdam, the Senate adopted the ‘extractors law’ at the end of 2021: named after criminals who remove drugs from seaport containers. “OM happy with new extractors law,” read the headline during an explanation from the Public Prosecution Service about the law that was “desperately needed”. Anyone caught in the port without having any business being there could now receive a maximum prison sentence of one year.
It now appears that these prison sentences are not forthcoming. This week, the Hague Court of Appeal called the Public Prosecution Service to order due to an arrest in 2022 to condemn the extortioner to 120 hours of community service, instead of the required unconditional prison sentence of 21 weeks.
While the Public Prosecution Service did everything it could to underline the seriousness of the situation. It added a special ‘atmosphere report’ to the criminal file on the problem of cheaters, in which it was emphasized that hundreds of cheaters are arrested every year.
The Advocate General (the representative of the Public Prosecution Service on appeal) even made an “urgent appeal” to the court to impose a prison sentence and a restraining order. The Advocate General pointed out the importance of a strict approach to perpetrators and stated that “a strong deterrent criminal policy first-time offenders is an important part of that.”
European cocaine trade
The port of Rotterdam has been one of the most important supply ports for the European cocaine trade for years. This is reflected in the seizure figures: an indicator of the total amount of cocaine that is smuggled. While almost 19,000 kilos of cocaine were seized in 2018, this was more than 70,000 kilos in 2021. When it concerned ‘only’ 47,000 kilos last year, this seemed like good news, but half-yearly figures now suggest that it appears to be a one-off ‘dip’. In August, 8,064 kilos of cocaine were found in one load: the largest discovery ever in the Netherlands.
Extractors act as foot soldiers in one of the most important smuggling methods in the port of Rotterdam. They (usually) enter the port site in groups and move cocaine that has arrived in a container from Latin America – and is awaiting customs control – to a ‘safe’ container that can then leave the port site unchecked.
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They are mainly men between 18 and 30 years old from Rotterdam and the surrounding area, the Public Prosecution Service stated in January. They often come from vulnerable families, for example with debt problems or with criminal family members. “But there are also young people who think they can earn money quickly and do not understand the consequences of their choices.”
Extractors can easily earn thousands of euros with a job. Depending on the hierarchy in the group of drug addicts and the amount of cocaine, there are also outliers. Prosecutor Nicole Coenen gave last year in OM magazine Opportune the example of an 18-year-old drug addict who said he was paid 70,000 euros for 35 kilos of cocaine.
‘Free taxi home’
Until January 2022, if caught without drugs, ejectors only received a fine of 95 euros for unauthorized entry into the port area. In police and judicial circles, this sanction was disparagingly described as the ‘free taxi home’, referring to the fifty kilometer ride from the Maasvlakte to the center of Rotterdam.
The new law on criminals was supposed to deter criminals, but it now appears that the court in particular is not keen to apply the law strictly to first offenders: criminals who are caught for the first time. According to the police Three-quarters of all arrested offenders are first offenders.
Also read: The drug extractors now have almost free rein in the port of Rotterdam
“When the eviction law had just come into effect, the Rotterdam court followed the Public Prosecution Service and imposed prison sentences. But this was reversed by the Court of Appeal in The Hague. Since June 2022, the court has used as a starting point for a first offender that a community service of 90 hours and a suspended prison sentence of two months is imposed,” says Rotterdam lawyer Desiree de Jonge, who represented several perpetrators.
Nevertheless, the College of Attorneys General recently published a guideline which requires public prosecutors to demand a four-month prison sentence and an area ban for first offenders. The court showed this week that it is not concerned with that guideline: it is not “more than a guideline for the sentence imposed” by the Public Prosecution Service itself.
In the judgment, the court emphasizes that it will adhere to the line previously followed at two thematic hearings of imposing community service and a suspended prison sentence. There is “no reason” to change the previously chosen penalty and that would not be in the interest of legal certainty.
According to De Jonge, this does not mean that the court will never impose prison sentences. But then something fundamental needs to change: either in the social context – for example if it turns out that many more people who use drugs are arrested and the punishments do not have a deterrent effect – or if it is imposed from above. “It strikes me and the court of appeal that the Public Prosecution Service has not filed an appeal in cassation against previous judgments. If you disagree so fundamentally with the punishment, then it is obvious to complain about it to the Supreme Court.”