Drug trafficker Piet Wortel still not free, arrested for money laundering | Interior

Wortel was arrested on suspicion of money laundering in 2018. According to his lawyer Ruud van Boom, Wortel had already been heard about the suspicion on an earlier occasion, but his client was not charged at the time. “In my opinion, this should have been done differently,” said Van Boom. “It is a bit: if my client is released for one thing, the OM will come up with something else.”

Piet Wortel was recently sentenced by the Rotterdam court set free in a case that revolves around two settlements in the criminal environment. The Public Prosecution Service sees Wortel as the client of the two liquidations in 2019. The first is that of a former professional footballer Kevin Maynard. The second murder is that of the 23-year-old Genciel ‘Genna’ Fellerwho was shot dead in Curaçao in September 2019.

The two murders would be revenge for the theft of 400 kilograms of cocaine in July 2019. Where and how the drugs would have been stolen has always remained unclear.

Justice also suspects Piet Wortel of involvement in the import of large batches of cocaine. He was also convicted of cocaine trafficking in 2014.

According to lawyer Ruud van Boom, hard evidence that Piet Wortel was the client of the murders of Maynard and Feller is not in the file. “It is all gossip and backbiting, recorded by the Police Criminal Intelligence Team (TCI),” argued the counsel during pro forma hearings in the case.

According to Van Boom, the file contains indications that Kelvin Maynard was having a escalating conflict with someone other than Piet Wortel at the time he was shot dead.

The Public Prosecution Service acknowledged in January that there is not yet a round case against Wortel. The investigation is currently in progress.

On Friday, Piet Wortel will be brought before the examining magistrate. He will assess whether the new arrest for money laundering is lawful.