Prosecutors seek five years for 99.5kg of cocaine in steel machine

The Rotterdam branch of the Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministerie) has demanded five years in prison against a 50-year-old man from Eindhoven for smuggling cocaine. The suspect heard the demand in court. Prosecutors ask the judges to deduct the time he has already spent in pre-trial detention.

Customs was alerted on 4 August 2026 to a suspicious shipment containing a steel machine. Officers noticed amateurish welding seams. A wooden crate had been welded into the structure to hide the drugs. It held 100 packages of cocaine weighing 99.5 kilos net.

The machine was sent by a company from Bladel, which the suspect owns. He was arrested on 5 August. Investigators seized a mould for pressing cocaine blocks, a drying oven and packaging materials.

The investigation also showed that six machines with exactly the same description had earlier been sent and delivered to a company in Great Britain.

The suspect first used his right to remain silent. He later gave a statement saying he was pressured into sending the drugs. The prosecutor said that claim was investigated, but no other evidence for it was found. "The police made several attempts to find out which people supposedly put the suspect under pressure," the prosecutor said. "That produced no result."

Prosecutors consider it proven that the man was involved in exporting this shipment and that he made preparations for the smuggling.