The Antwerp Court of Appeal on Thursday sentenced a 30-year-old man to four years in prison and a €16,000 fine for his role in the importation of 455kg of cocaine into the port of Antwerp.
While working as a security officer, the man had diverted security cameras at the port, thus facilitating the entry of the cocaine shipment. He was acquitted in the first instance but convicted on appeal.
On 22 June 2020, a consignment of 455 kg of cocaine was discovered in the floor of a container from Ecuador. An investigation revealed that on the night of 19-20 June 2020, the driver of a straddle carrier swapped the container for another to avoid its contents being scanned. The stickers with the container numbers were also swapped.
The driver and an accomplice were convicted and sentenced in July 2021, while the court doubted the security officer’s involvement and acquitted him, prompting the prosecution to appeal.
Convicted thanks to the hacking of Sky ECC messaging service
When the appeal court considered the case, the prosecution was able to present additional evidence against the suspect that investigators had obtained in the interim thanks to the hacking of the Sky ECC messaging service.
The intercepted communications showed that the defendant had been asked to participate in the container exchange and that he had replied, “Yes, of course, I’d be happy to.”
The 30-year-old made sure that the cameras were diverted, so that the container swap could not be seen on the footage. He had also told his interviewers that they could achieve “a lot” while he was on duty.
In view of this new evidence, the court found that his guilt was established.
