Prosecutors seek 9-year prison sentence for footballer Quincy Promes over his alleged involvement in importing 1,370kg of cocaine

Dutch prosecutors are seeking a nine-year prison sentence for Spartak Moscow forward Quincy Promes on drug trafficking charges.

The Netherlands international was charged last May over his alleged involvement in smuggling 1,370 kilograms of cocaine.

The two batches of 650kg and 713kg were intercepted in Antwerp in January 2020.

The Public Prosecution Service claim Promes and a 32-year-old co-suspect, are guilty of importing, exporting, transporting and possessing the drugs.

It is alleged the cocaine was hidden in a shipment of sea salt from Brazil, where the drugs were transported in two containers to Antwerp.

When demanding the nine-year sentence, prosecutors alleged that Promes ‘normalises and almost romanticises the cocaine trade’.

Prosecutors claim Promes’ wealth means he has money to invest and is one step higher on the organisational ladder as a result.

‘The case came to light after the police Criminal Intelligence Team received information that the 32-year-old man who now lives in Russia was involved in the cocaine trade,’ the Dutch Public Prosecution Service said.

‘He is also said to own crypto phones and has invested 200,000 euros in the trade.

‘That information prompted an investigation to be launched. Eavesdropping equipment was placed in the suspect’s car and the suspect was observed.

‘The accuracy of the TCI information was confirmed, partly by seized telephones from others in which conversations were found in which the suspects also participated.

‘Many chat messages made it clear that both suspects were involved in bringing in, removing and further transporting and selling these two consignments.’

Promes did not attend the court hearing in Amsterdam. His lawyers told Dutch news agency ANP he denies the charges.

The former Ajax and Sevilla forward was last year sentenced in absentia to 18 months in jail for assault, in connection with a fight in 2020 in which he stabbed a cousin in the knee.

Promes has filed an appeal against that sentence.

The 32-year-old had been playing for Ajax at the time of the incident, before moving to Spartak Moscow in 2021.