The Amsterdam court on Wednesday imposed 8 years in prison on Mike S., who traded in drugs from a house in the North Holland village of De Kwakel. The judges deem proven that the 54-year-old man is complicit in trafficking and possession of about four thousand kilos of cocaine. He was also convicted of laundering about 12 million euros and possessing weapons. Justice had demanded 10.5 years in prison against S..
In June, the police raided the house in De Kwakel. She found three thousand kilos of cocaine and bags of cash with a value of about 11 million euros. The drug batch had an estimated street value of approximately 195 million euros, making it one of the largest drug seizures by the Amsterdam police ever. The police also found weapons and very valuable items, such as bottles of liquor worth thousands of euros per bottle.
The court does not consider it proven that Mike S. laundered the cash amount found, because he did not try to disguise its criminal origin. According to the judges, messages and a note on his iPod show that he traded in cocaine for an amount of around 23 million euros. The 11 million euros found in the house may be part of that total amount. That is why the court has sentenced S. for laundering the remaining 12 million. This money laundering is apparent from camera observations and messages on the offender’s iPod.
Also read: How did that 3,000 kilos of coke end up in De Kwakel?
South America
Evidence was also found on S.’s iPod for possessing or trading 950 kilos of cocaine. That amount comes on top of the consignment of about three thousand kilos of cocaine that was found in the house in De Kwakel. The court called the amounts of cocaine, money, and weapons in this case “excessive.” Up to and including the substantive handling of the case, Mike S. invoked his right to remain silent.
According to the court, it can be deduced from the criminal file that S. had “direct contact” with the suppliers of cocaine. Police said in June that they had “strong indications” that the cocaine found came directly from a “drug line” from South America. For example, the client of S. was called ‘Carlos’ and according to the police he might be a Colombian. It is a trend in the cocaine trade for Latin American drug gangs to target the European market directly. The court did not discuss the identity of the suppliers and client on Wednesday.
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