He remained invisible for a long time, the mysterious “Zebra”. But his precious shipments of cocaine did turn up everywhere. In Brabant and even Germany. Still, the police picked up a lead. That led to Joop M. in Zevenbergschen Hoek. An undercover agent had to expose him, but the action went dramatically. The process came to a head on Tuesday: Zebra was told that he will have to go to prison for 11.5 years and that the Public Prosecution Service wants to strip him bald for millions of euros.
The process has been dragging on for a long time. Until now, it was almost exclusively about the dramatic undercover operation in the Moerdijk church village. The police wanted to catch Joop M. (47) with an undercover agent. That cop ‘Peter’ became his neighbor and friend. But when Joop M. was arrested, the agent had an affair with his wife. The agent fell into a distress of conscience and ended his life in April 2021. “A deeply tragic event, for his loved ones but also for the police,” said both prosecutors during Tuesday’s trial.
Cocaine shipments
For the first time, the courtroom was mainly about the accusations against Joop M. The police and judiciary see him as a crucial intermediary or ‘broker’ behind 812 kilos of coke that turned up in Moerdijk (October 2018) and also the discovery of 60 kilos of coke between the bananas at a distribution company in Etten Leur (January 2019).
More transports came into view that are attributed to Joop. For example, 500 kilos of coke was hidden between bananas that went from Vlissingen to Germany. M. would also have been behind transports of 350 kilos and a missing transport of 100 kilos (September 2018), the OM says.
Core of the evidence are many chat messages via Encrochat and Sky. But the man was also shadowed.
Harbor Flushing
“Nothing happened in the port without Zebra knowing,” said one of the prosecutors. “If they put it in in Cartagena (Colombia), it will end up at Zebra,” the public prosecutor quoted another suspect in the file. Joop M. was ‘a man of influence’, according to the Public Prosecution Service, who stood between port staff and clients.
The police discovered that Joop and his wife had a remarkable amount of money, without a clear income. More than 526,000 euros had been deposited into their accounts in ten years. Joop explained that he had earned it with his company. He also installed kitchens and bathrooms. “I’m pretty handy,” he said during Tuesday’s hearing. But he couldn’t show receipts and customer files.
stripping
Agents found 182,000 euros at his chalet on a campsite. “I won it at illegal poker tournaments”. M. also had a boat, but it was ‘borrowed’.
The OM took into account that the man was closely followed by a ‘police informant’ who also had a relationship with his wife. And also had an ’emotional bond’ with their son and went to McDonalds. Due to the ‘impermissible invasion of privacy’, not 12 years but 11.5 years were demanded.
The Public Prosecution Service wants to strip M. in a later court case. Preliminary calculation: nearly five million euros in crime profits. But that amount can still change, the OM emphasizes. They call M. a professional criminal who just keeps going.
The police initially thought that M. had contact with corrupt customs officers. But there was not enough evidence for that. He did know someone at a port company in Vlissingen from whom he received information about ships, containers and destinations.
The suspect often invoked his right to remain silent on Tuesday. A witness called Joop ‘very smart’. The court president asked whether Joop agrees. “No, otherwise I wouldn’t have been here,” said the suspect. The plea is scheduled for Friday. A date for a ruling has not yet been announced.
OM: Another officer should have led the investigation of an undercover agent’s suicide
Undercover agent who committed suicide did not provide much evidence, says OM