In flip-flops, in olive green cargo pants and a T-shirt, Curaçao-born Arvis (49) walks the
courtroom inside. He is thin in build. Arvis looks around and sits down. Since his arrest on July 24, the drug swallower has been in detention.
On July 24, Sunday morning, Arvis lands at Schiphol after a flight of approximately nine hours from Curaçao. In the arrivals hall he is questioned by the guard of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. A targeted control.
That’s not unusual; Schiphol is a security risk area. The Marechaussee may then carry out checks without being involved in a concrete criminal investigation.
“You know that cocaine kills people. And yet you are helping to smuggle it into the country. Why?” asks the judge.
Arvis: „I don’t have a job, then you have to do something. And I’ve been pressured.”
The judge goes over the file with Arvis. He would go home by train, Arvis would have said during the check to the Marechaussee. They let him go, but continue to observe him.
The guard then sees that Arvis is giving a man a box at Schiphol Plaza. Together they walk towards the parking garage to a car. Arvis is questioned again, still in the context of the targeted audit.
He now tells the watchman that he is riding with the man instead of taking the train. Because of his new statement, the Marechaussee proceeds to search the car and arrest both men.
The arrest was illegal, but that doesn’t matter for the sentence
The man he was supposed to ride with isn’t the one who pressured him, Arvis says. “No, I had just met him. He also happened to go to Rotterdam.”
After the arrest, Arvis goes through the body scan. In the photo, the radiologist sees the spheres. He is held on this longer. Later, the spheres with a white substance came out of his body. The lab report says it’s cocaine.
The arrest and the detention were later found unlawful by the examining magistrate, according to the file. The judge ruled that the evidence for the arrest was insufficient. “The mere fact that someone first says ‘I’m going by train’ and then goes by car with someone else is not enough to say ‘Yes, you must have been smuggling drugs’.”
But the prosecutor has no doubts about the arrest. She said there was sufficient suspicion of drug transport: the various explanations that Arvis gave about how he went home, but also the signs that the “swallowing criteria” would meet. “Arvis appeared confused at the first meeting with the watchman. He also had yellowish eyelids.”
The lawyer wants a reduced sentence. “Without the wrongful arrest, it is quite conceivable that Arvis could have continued his way and not have to face court here today.”
Arvis knew it was cocaine he was taking, he told the judge. With the reward of 8,000 euros that he would receive upon delivery of the drugs, he wanted to move from the Netherlands to Curaçao. He has five children there.
The public prosecutor considers the introduction of drugs a serious offense. “Transporting the drugs perpetuates the production of drugs and the associated crime.”
Arvis has a history of drugs. “He was previously convicted of drug offences, both in the Netherlands and in Curaçao.”
She is demanding an eight-month unconditional prison sentence. “The fact has been proven,” said the prosecutor. “After his arrest, 99 globules of cocaine came out of his body.”
The wrongful arrest does not affect the sentence, the judge said. “For this you must demonstrate that you have actually suffered a real disadvantage. I don’t think so in your case.”
He agrees with the prosecutor’s demand. Arvis must serve his prison sentence immediately.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of August 15, 2022
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