A 34-year-old employee of the Amsterdam port is suspected of abusing his key position to facilitate drug trafficking. He is also suspected of trafficking in six kilos of MDMA. The man from Almere was sentenced to six years in prison today.
The investigating services tracked down the man thanks to cracked SkyECC messages. As a port employee, the suspect had knowledge about transports and access to IT systems and secured areas. According to the Public Prosecution Service, this allowed him to facilitate drug trafficking through the port.
The decrypted messages make it clear that users of certain group chats tried, among other things, to find out whether certain ships were on the transshipment company’s list for unloading and when they would arrive. Furthermore, there was open discussion about kilos, the distribution of investments, controls and people who could be trusted.
Key role
According to the Public Prosecution Service, the suspect was one of the participants in those group chats and provided answers to questions from others. For example, he allegedly checked ship names at the office, forwarded lists of boat names he had received and photos of ship plans. He did that for months in 2020.
When the messages were decrypted in 2022 and he was under investigation, according to the Public Prosecution Service, he was still active in the drugs environment and was still abusing his position in the port for criminal purposes. During an observation in March 2023, he was observed handing over six kilos of MDMA. Even then, according to the Public Prosecution Service, he fulfilled a crucial and coordinating role, he was the link between two couriers.
The Public Prosecution Service blames the suspect heavily for seriously and long-term abuse of the key position he had because of his work in the port. The court will make its ruling in two weeks.