The Court Sentenced Quincy Promes to Prison. What's Next?

For two crimes — a total of 7.5 years.

Quincy Promes was convicted of a crime for the second time. Last summer he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for stabbing his cousin, and today the Amsterdam court found him guilty of involvement in drug smuggling on a large scale. This time the sentence is much longer — Promes must go to prison for six years. In total — 7.5 years in captivity. If, of course, the Netherlands can extradite him to his homeland.

What kind of smuggling?

It is interesting that initially the investigation against Promes began precisely in connection with the case of cocaine smuggling and ties with mafia groups. But during the wiretapping of his phone conversations, investigators intercepted recordings in which the footballer discusses the stabbing incident. The case began back in 2020: the prosecution believed that Promes played a significant role in the smuggling of two shipments of cocaine that arrived in Antwerp from Brazil at the end of January that year under the guise of sea salt. The first shipment weighed about 650 kg and was intercepted by Belgian customs, but the second, weighing 712.8 kg, most likely made it to the black market.

According to the prosecution in Amsterdam, Promes and his accomplices played a leading role in the drug transportation process: allegedly they directed people through messages from a cryptophone (Promes used the name Fantasma), who then extracted cocaine from the containers. The story is incredibly cinematic: one of the truck drivers left the port with an employee pass, and the drugs were removed from the container, after which it was sealed with a fake seal and returned. Investigators who listened to Promes's phone conversations intercepted a conversation in which he said the following: "My delivery was half unsuccessful. One of the containers was seized, so my profit is halved."

It was claimed that Promes made large financial investments in drug trading. According to prosecutors, he and his accomplice acted "unnoticed" and worked "calculatingly," persuading others to do risky work — for example, to transport cocaine from the port. The main evidence of the court was intercepted messages in the Sky chat service, which were sent from a phone belonging to Promes. This was established based on location data.

It is claimed that Promes did not act alone — according to the court, he was helped by his cousin Marilio, who was his "right hand." In 2019, the footballer's relative was already sentenced to four years in prison for cocaine smuggling, but he quickly went free and, according to the investigation, almost immediately returned to his old business. Marilio partially admitted guilt at the decisive hearing: he said that he only connected two people with the organization behind the drug smuggling because he "wanted to help the guys earn some money for pocket expenses." He received the same sentence as Promes.

What happens next?

Promes is currently in the UAE and is safe for now. Firstly, the sentence has not yet come into force. Secondly, Quincy will appeal, and this will take some time.

"Promes's side informs us about the course of the process. This is not a final decision, there will be an appeal," said the Spartak football club.

According to lawyers, the Spartak footballer is not currently in danger, but there is nothing good for him globally, although Russia and the Netherlands do not have an extradition agreement.

The sentence has not yet come into force: translation into another language, announcement in international search — all this takes time. It usually takes more than a month. Right now, he still has the opportunity to be in the UAE. The Netherlands did not send any documents to Russia, although they know where Quincy is. It is unlikely that his movements will be tracked now. Promes can safely return to Russia.

First of all, Quincy cannot appear in the European Union. If he is detained, then six years for drugs is a humane term. Without prison, it will definitely not work, somewhere, sometime he will be caught. There are cases when people were caught even after 25 years and served some time.

If we talk about countries where Promes will not be able to appear, apart from the European Union, it depends on the friendly relations between them. The USA, Canada — for sure. Arab countries are less dangerous. In Russia and Belarus, he will have the opportunity to perform until a certain time.

Metaratings reports that Spartak already has a shortlist of candidates to replace Promes, if the situation deteriorates — only four foreigners.

Published by Patrick Jane
15.02.2024