A Dutch jewellery entrepreneur faces a prison sentence of 16 years after he was caught attempting to smuggle two tonnes of cocaine into Europe.
UK Border Force officials intercepted Maarten Pieterse, 61, on his yacht approximately 120 miles off the Cornwall coast in July last year. They discovered 93 packages which contained 1,661 individual blocks of cocaine concealed in a specially-built compartment of the yacht.
It took a team of Border Force specialists two days to remove the packages, pictured below:
Pieterse’s yacht had travelled from Marina d’Angra in the Azores, Portugal and was believed to be en route to Belgium.
Bristol Crown Court sentenced Pieterse to a total of 16 years in prison, in spite of the fact that he pleaded that he was acting under coercion.
According to Dominic Thomas, Pieterse’s defence lawyer, Pieterse used to own the “thriving and relatively high-profile jewellery business”, Het Juweel in Rotterdam but faced financial and emotional devastation following a “difficult and lengthy” divorce from his wife and co-owner of their business.
Pieterse had no previous criminal convictions and his lawyer claims that he only accepted the offer to smuggle cocaine so he could get money to care for his girlfriend, two daughters and grandchildren. Additionally, his girlfriend is battling cancer and the money would supposedly help to pay for her treatment after she went into remission.
Thomas explains his client’s motivations as such:
He committed this offence at a uniquely difficult point in his life. Whoever suggested this scheme to him when he was poorly placed to resist whatever temptation was put in his path.
However, no matter the circumstances in Pieterse’s life, he committed a serious crime with devastating consequences which extend beyond himself. He claims to have been driven by the selfless desire to support his family, but he clearly didn’t think of them at all. If he truly wanted to help his girlfriend during her illness, perhaps he should stayed within the limits of legality. How will he support her in jail?
Ty Surgeon, Operations Manager at the NCA says:
This huge haul of cocaine is one of the largest seizures of class A ever in the UK, with a potential street value of more than £130 million.
Pieterse’s yacht had been specially adapted for the sole purpose of drug smuggling, and this seizure will have significantly disrupted the activities of organised crime groups.
I have no doubt these drugs were destined for Europe and the UK, to be sold by drugs gangs who are also involved in intimidation, exploitation and violence.
The drug dealing industry, especially that of cocaine, is inherently violent, not to mention illegal. Cocaine ruins and ends the lives of millions of people every year, through both murder and addiction.
To read about the harmful impacts which cocaine can have on the brain, click here.
