A man from Berkel-Enschot (52) has been jailed for thirty months because he was involved in the transport of drugs in a hearse. He did not know what was in the car, but the court in Den Bosch does not believe that. The judge also finds that it has been proven that the man must have been aware of a drug laboratory in Rotterdam.
In this case, the driver of the hearse had already received a prison sentence of 3.5 years in March last year. The hearse was removed from the A77 highway near Beugen in May 2023. The police noticed that the vehicle appeared to be very heavily loaded. Investigation revealed 675 kilos of raw materials for amphetamine.
The man from Berkel-Enschot sat next to the driver. He was also supposed to appear in court last year, but canceled after a panic attack. His case went ahead two weeks ago. Like the public prosecutor, the court is of the opinion that the passenger must have known what the hearse was really transporting.
The man said he had helped load boxes and didn’t know what was inside. It has also been established that he worked with others in the production and trafficking of amphetamine, among other things.
The duo’s practices came to light during the police investigation. This led officers to a drug lab in Rotterdam, which was discovered burning in the building of a funeral home in May 2023.
Barrels, stoves and cooking pans used for the production of drugs were also found. L. said he had nothing to do with this. He had only been there for the sake of it business plan of the now convicted funeral director and to help clear the building and buy preserving jars in which cocaine was subsequently found.
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His lawyer tried to convince the court that there was insufficient evidence to support the allegations. He further pointed out that the man had never come into contact with the police and the judiciary before and that he also behaved properly after his arrest and when he was provisionally released.
Moreover, he had lost his job. His lawyer also stated that the handling of the case took a very long time, although this was partly due to his client’s panic attack.
Why did the judge reject the lawyer’s defense?
Naturally, the court looked at those personal circumstances, but it was not without reason that it concluded that the man was only looking for financial gain for himself and that he took little responsibility for his behavior.
Finally, the judge cannot ignore the dangers of the production of synthetic drugs and the storage of chemicals required for this. This can lead to fire and that is what happened in this case. The court blames the man heavily for contributing to organized drug crime.
The public prosecutor wanted to impose three years, but the judge finds that too harsh, because the case has exceeded the reasonable processing time. That is why he is sentenced to thirty months in prison.
