According to the court in Leeuwarden, the 33-year-old former police officer from Groningen did know about the kilo of cocaine that was found in his car. However, he will not receive a more severe punishment.
The agent had to report to the agency in Drachten in March 2020, because a criminal investigation was started against him for alleged mortgage fraud. In a brown bag on the back seat, the detective later found more than a kilo of cocaine and small bags under the seats. Child and animal pornography was found on his phone.
The criminal case cost the policeman his job, his family and his marriage. More than a year later, the court largely acquitted him. There was not enough evidence for the mortgage fraud and the scenario that the coke belonged to the suspect agent’s brother and he knew nothing about it could not be ruled out. The court in Assen left it at the six months he had been in pretrial detention. On appeal, the Public Prosecution Service demanded a one-and-a-half-year prison sentence.
“He also knew about the kilo of cocaine in his car”
The court will not agree on Tuesday. Although the former agent from Groningen did know about the drugs in his private car, she believes. The fact that he regularly lent the car to his brother – whom the suspected police officer knew often possessed considerable amounts of cocaine – strengthens the court’s judgment. The fact that DNA from both men was found on the bag means that they must both have known about it. It makes the agent a ‘co-perpetrator’.
Nevertheless, he will not receive a heavier sentence, because the Groningen man has now got his life back on track. He has his own cleaning company, no longer uses drugs and sees his children regularly again. Sending him back to prison is no longer an appropriate punishment after all this time, says the court.