Brandy bowls, birthing spoons, engraved cups and a tobacco jar, from a house burglary in Amsterdam in the summer of 2019, are put up for sale a few months later on a public auction site. The owner of the items sees this and reports it to the police. The police found the seller via the auction house.
Now he’s in court. “I have submitted thousands of items to the auction house in my career. Nothing has ever gone wrong”, says Mohamed from Abcoude. He is wearing a mid-length army green coat, light jeans, and a neat beard.
Trading precious metals, that’s what Mohamed does. Buying and offering gold and silver at auction houses. Payment is often in cash.
Today’s question is whether Mohamed knew, or could have suspected, that the silverware he offered to the auction house came from theft.
“How did you get the stuff?” the judge asks. “I bought them from a jeweler. Everything was in a shopping bag bag. I didn’t know exactly what was in it.”
One of the goods Mohamed wanted to sell was a tobacco jar. It did very well on the site. “The auction house even called me about it.” Remarkable, Mohamed thought. He wondered why and googled it.
He saw on news sites that the tobacco jar had been stolen from a canal house in Amsterdam, along with the other silverware he bought from the jeweler. He called the police himself.
This was about the same time the burglary victim saw that his tobacco jar was up for sale. The victim made a report and Mohamed was questioned by the police in early 2020.
The Public Prosecution Service initially dismissed the criminal case. The court decided that the Public Prosecution Service still had to prosecute Mohamed. Two years later, Mohamed still appears before the police judge.
The judge reads in the file that Mohamed cannot provide evidence of this. No receipts. No transfers. “Why is that?”
Mohamed: „In the first instance I had bought the items for myself. I don’t think I need a receipt.”
“But in the end you offered it to the auction house?” the judge remarks.
“Correct.” I kept some. The rest went to the auction house.”
The victim of the burglary is sitting in the back of the room. He has claims almost 8,000 euros from Mohamed. Some of the items – jewelry and a silver bowl – he did not get back. Personal jewelry is only partly reimbursed by the insurance, he tells the judge.
The victim claims almost 8,000 euros from Mohamed
The suspect has not investigated the origin of the goods, says the public prosecutor. “But the moment he found out that the silverware had been stolen, he called the police before he was identified as a suspect.”
She asks the judge for an acquittal. “The suspect should have kept his records better. But that is not punishable.”
The prosecutor does not believe that the damage suffered by the victim can be attributed to the suspect. “Mohamed is on trial for healing. And not for a home burglary.”
That the goods came from theft, that is clear, says the judge. “There is a report. But guilt-healing[Mohamed could suspect it came from theft]is difficult to prove.” He finds it remarkable that Mohamed cannot demonstrate how he got the stuff. “But you put the stuff up for auction. Your name is known there. And you contacted the police yourself.” The judge agrees with the public prosecutor: “I am going to acquit you.”
He tells the victim that he can turn to the civil court. “I don’t want to discourage you. But it seems to me to be a difficult road.”