Former Ajax winger Quincy Promes has been extradited from the United Arab Emirates to the Netherlands. The ex-footballer, who played 50 matches for the Dutch national team, faces seven and a half years in prison on charges of drug trafficking and aggravated assault.
According to the BBC, Dubai police arrested Promes at the request of Dutch authorities. After evidence linked him to smuggling over one ton of cocaine from Belgium to the Netherlands in 2020, a Dutch court sentenced him last February to six years in prison. Dutch media outlet De Telegraaf reported that Dubai police arrested Promes earlier this month and he was flown back to the Netherlands on a chartered plane under the Dutch judiciary’s authority.
Brazilian media outlet O Globo states that Promes was found guilty of involvement in smuggling 1,363 kilograms of cocaine from Brazil in 2020. The same source says that in January 2020, Promes transported cocaine to the Netherlands via the Belgian port of Antwerp.
A spokesperson for Promes’ legal team told the BBC that the 33-year-old has been returned to the Netherlands. Promes denies both charges and has appealed the convictions.
In June 2023, a Dutch court sentenced Promes to 18 months in prison for another case stemming from a July 2020 family party incident, where he stabbed a relative in the knee during a dispute over stolen jewelry. Alongside the prison sentence, the court also ordered him to pay compensation.
Promes began his senior football career with Dutch club Twente in 2011. In 2014, he moved to Russian club Spartak Moscow. After four years there, he played for Sevilla and Ajax between 2018 and 2021 before returning to Spartak Moscow. After three years, he joined Dubai United last year.
He debuted for the Netherlands national team in 2014. However, after the Dutch lost to the Czech Republic in the last 16 of Euro 2021, Promes has not been called up since.
