Netherlands man sentenced to 36-month jail for smuggle cocaine

A man from the Netherlands has been recently sentenced to 36 months in jail for smuggling of cocaine via the Thalys train. The man, who is around or over 50-year-old, was caught at Bruxelles-Midi train station with some 120 so-called “boletas” in his stomach, as per reports.

The Railway Police subjected the man to a check on 14 May, because there was a suspicion that he was smuggling drugs. The 52-year-old man, who had travelled to Brussels through Paris, denied having drugs in his pocket, but he was transferred to Saint Peter’s Hospital in Brussels for a check-up.

A scan has further revealed that he had swallowed 120 drug pellets. Following his arrest, he stated that he regularly carried out the same drug transports and received €7,000 each time.

His lawyer asked the court for a lenient application of the criminal law, but the man was sentenced on Friday to an effective jail sentence of 36 months.