BRUSSELS - A 43-year-old man was sentenced by the Brussels court on Thursday to a prison term of three years for drug smuggling. The man was arrested at Brussels Airport from Curaçao with more than one and a half kilos of cocaine in his luggage.
According to his lawyer, the man carried out the transport to pay off his debts.
The man in his forties landed at the airport on October 30 with a flight from Curaçao. His suitcase turned out to contain a double bottom, under which 1.63 kilos of cocaine was hidden.
“My client had to undergo surgery in 2020 and has been in debt to the hospital ever since,” the lawyer for the 40-year-old pleaded. They amounted to 14,000 euros and he wanted to pay them off as quickly as possible. He would receive 8,000 euros for the transport, which he could use very well. He realizes that this was a big mistake and hopes for a lenient sentence so that he can quickly look for work again after his release.
The plea could not move the court to any leniency, and the forty-year-old was sentenced to 36 months in prison.