By Francesca Hangeior
Former Ajax and Netherlands footballer Quincy Promes, convicted last month of involvement in cocaine smuggling and sentenced to six years in prison, has been arrested in Dubai at the request of Dutch prosecutors seeking his extradition.
The 32-year-old is the subject of an international arrest warrant. According to several media reports he had been under house arrest since the beginning of March in a luxury hotel in Dubai.
Quincy Promes was also arrested almost two weeks ago in the same city for a “local offence” and not because of the Dutch case.
This time he was arrested based on a request issued to law enforcement agencies worldwide and “has been taken into custody thanks to the efforts of the authorities” in the Netherlands and UAE, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
“Netherlands will request the extradition of the man,” the statement added.
Quincy Promes, who now plays for Spartak Moscow, was convicted in absentia by a Dutch court on February 14 of smuggling more than one thousand kilogrammes of cocaine.
Dutch public newscaster NOS, quoting Russia media, said Promes was arrested on March 1 for leaving the scene of a traffic accident in Dubai.
He was believed to have been arrested at the airport as his club was flying out after a training camp.
Previous attempts to extradite him from Moscow have failed and judges at the Amsterdam District Court had issued a warrant for his arrest after he was sentenced.
The court said Quincy Promes had smuggled a total of 1,363 kilogrammes of cocaine from Brazil in 2020, through the Belgian port of Antwerp into the Netherlands with the help of an accomplice.
The drugs haul was stashed in bags of salt in containers on board a ship — later partially intercepted by customs officials.
In a separate case, Promes had already been sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay compensation for stabbing his cousin over a stolen necklace.
Promes won 50 caps for the Netherlands, scoring seven goals, and was part of the side that lost to the Czech Republic in the last 16 at Euro 2020.
He has not worn the orange jersey since.
In 2021, he left the Dutch capital for Moscow and has played for Spartak ever since, following a previous stint from 2014-2018, during which he was named Russia’s footballer of the year.