Former Ajax winger and Dutch international Quincy Promes has been extradited to the Netherlands to begin a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence after being convicted of drug trafficking and aggravated assault, reports Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.
Promes, 33, who had been playing professional football in Dubai, was apprehended following a formal extradition request by the Dutch authorities.
He arrived in the Netherlands aboard a chartered plane and was immediately transferred to a detention facility to commence his sentence.
According to reports, the earliest possible date for his release is 2030, depending on parole eligibility and the outcome of any legal appeals.
Promes was sentenced to six years in February 2024 by an Amsterdam court, which found him guilty of smuggling 1,360 kilograms of cocaine into the Netherlands in two separate shipments from Belgium in 2020.
The drugs were linked to organized trafficking rings with which Promes allegedly maintained regular contact.
While Promes denied the allegations, the court cited eyewitness accounts and intercepted phone calls as strong evidence of his direct involvement in the international drug trade.
The footballer had previously been sentenced to 18 months in prison for stabbing his cousin during a family gathering in 2020.
That sentence, too, had not been served, as Promes had remained outside Dutch jurisdiction until his recent arrest and extradition.
Combined, the two convictions result in a total sentence of seven and a half years.
Once regarded as one of the Netherlands’ brightest football talents, Promes rose through the ranks at Spartak Moscow, Sevilla, and Ajax, and earned over 50 caps for the Dutch national team.
His career took a sharp downturn following the criminal investigations, which ultimately led to his departure from Ajax and a move to the UAE.
