The Court of Appeal in Den Bosch upheld an eight-and-a-half-year prison sentence for Joop M., 51, from Zevenbergschen Hoek, for his role in large-scale cocaine smuggling and money laundering. The court found that he coordinated shipments concealed among bananas from South America through the port of Vlissingen, including consignments of 812 kilograms, 100 kilograms and 500 kilograms, and that he was an indispensable link in the operation.

The court said an undercover operation against M. had been permissible because regular investigative methods had not initially worked, but ruled that boundaries were crossed when the undercover officer who lived next door had a relationship with M.'s wife. The officer later died by suicide in 2021. The court reduced what it said would otherwise have been a 10-year sentence by six months over the privacy violation and by a further year because of the elapsed time, resulting in the 8.5-year term.