Three alleged bosses of a gang who, according to justice, possibly spent years putting fishermen under pressure to smuggle large parties of hard drugs from the sea, denied all accusations on Thursday at the start of their criminal proceedings.
"Nonsense, I am not a drug bully or a big extortioner, I wanted to serve a service to friends", the supposed leader Muhammed S. spoke fiercely before the court in Amsterdam.

Together with Ferry B. (43) from Den Helder and Leendert R. (51) from Urk, S. was arrested last autumn. This happened a few months after a batch of almost 261 kilograms of cocaine had been intercepted in Harlingen, which had been brought ashore with the Urker fish cutter Z181.

The Coast Guard appears to have followed the cutter when it was exported one evening in June last year. The ship crossed the track of a Brazilian container ship and the crew members picked up sports bags with drugs from the sea. Then it returned to the port prematurely due to 'engine problems'.

The crew members and owner Johannes N. from Urk were sentenced to six years in prison in May. N. made an extensive confession. He claims to have been pressured and threatened to cooperate with the smuggling gang. The Public Prosecutor (OM) suspects that Muhammed S. is behind these threats, although N. has not mentioned names.

Muhammed S. must also answer for a murder attempt on a man in Hippolytushoef in 2015. Defendant B. would also have been involved. Their involvement would appear from encrypted messages that are in the hands of the Public Prosecution Service.