A Dutch man has confessed his involvement in a large-scale cocaine trafficking operation during the ongoing Costa trial, marking a rare admission among the accused.
The suspect, identified as A.S., appeared before the court in Tongeren-Looz on Friday and fully acknowledged his role in an attempt to retrieve nearly 677 kilograms of cocaine from the port of Antwerp in August 2020.
According to the investigation, A.S. and three accomplices were acting on behalf of a criminal organisation led by Tom Bastiaanse and Willy Van Mechelen. The drugs had been concealed inside several Renault vehicles parked within the port.
On 24 August 2020, the group was smuggled into the port with the aim of extracting the cocaine packages. However, their presence raised suspicion among dock workers, who alerted authorities. The men attempted to flee by climbing a fence but were quickly arrested by police.
Following his arrest, A.S. spent around 600 days in pre-trial detention before being placed under electronic monitoring. He was only allowed to return to the Netherlands after posting bail.
Speaking in court, the 62-year-old described his actions as "a stupid mistake", explaining that his business had been struggling due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
His lawyer has argued that the case exceeded a reasonable timeframe and has requested either a conviction without penalty or a suspended three-year prison sentence.
