Seven drug smugglers have been convicted in the Netherlands of trying to recover cocaine from a German bulker.
The Omroep Zeeland website reported that a court in Middelburg handed out a range of sentences to the men in a case involving the 182,000-dwt capesize Gina Oldendorff (built 2023) in January.
The gang had tried to remove 250 kg of the drug but nothing was ever found on the vessel, which was carrying coal.
The court found there was enough evidence to show the men intended to remove drugs from the ship, however.
They received sentences ranging from 240 hours of community service to 30 months in prison.
A 43-year-old from Rotterdam was found to have played a leading role and received a 30-month term.
In addition, two minors will appear before the juvenile court on 10 February.
The group cannot contact each other for three years. This carries the risk of another two weeks of prison time, up to a maximum of six months.
The men have also been banned from approaching the ports of Vlissingen and Rotterdam for three years.
Drug smuggling remains a big problem for vessels transiting routes from South America.
Earlier this month, a massive new seizure from a shipping container in the Dominican Republic showed how gangs are turning to the Caribbean as a gateway to European markets.
The Dominican Republic’s National Directorate of Drug Control said cocaine discovered in a shipment of bananas weighed 9.8 tonnes.
Officials displayed nearly 10,000 packets recovered from the box.
This was the largest seizure ever made in the country.
InSight Crime, a foundation that analyses organised crime, warned that record-breaking busts made this year suggest the Caribbean is re-emerging as a major trafficking route from Colombia to Europe.
