A man from the Netherlands has been sentenced to 36 months in prison for smuggling cocaine via the Thalys train. The man, who is in his fifties, was caught at Bruxelles-Midi train station with some 120 so-called ‘boletas’ in his stomach, Bruzz 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 via Paris, denied having drugs in his pocket, but he was transferred to Saint Peter’s Hospital in Brussels for a check-up.
A scan revealed that he had swallowed 120 drug pellets. After his arrest, he stated that he regularly carried out similar 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 prison sentence of 36 months.
