On Friday, the court in Breda imposed prison sentences of between three and eight years on six people from Brabant, including the Tilburg welder Mark P. (49). Together with two others, they were involved in the preparation for large-scale hard drug production. In addition, some of them are said to have helped with plans to export ecstasy pills to Togo. A 54-year-old resident of Bossche received the highest sentence of eight years in prison as ‘spider the web’.
The case came to light when the police were anonymously tipped off in 2019 about Mark P., a metal worker from Tilburg. He would have made material for drug labs, such as coolers and so-called melting pots.
Following the tip, the police decided to place a camera and microphone in the Tilburger’s office, with which confidential conversations were recorded. Because of that information, the other suspects eventually came into the picture. Seven of them were arrested in September 2020, the eighth was added later.
Encrypted messages
In the criminal case, encrypted messages from EncroChat phones formed a large part of the evidence. They came into the hands of the police in 2020, when the server of the company EncroChat was hacked. In the messages, the men talked about exporting a large amount of drugs to Togo. It also dealt with storage locations, raw materials and cooks for the production of drugs.
According to the lawyers of the suspects, the encrypted messages should not serve as evidence. The court therefore did not agree. The highest prison sentence, eight years, is for a 54-year-old resident of Bossche. He is seen as a client and financier. His right-hand man, a 55-year-old Tilburger, gets seven years in prison and Mark P. has to go to prison for five years. The other suspects face between three and five years in prison.
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