BERLIN: A Dutch citizen sentenced in Germany to 5 ½ years in prison for smuggling of cocaine inside his wheelchair from the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao.
A state court in Duesseldorf on Wednesday convicted the 57-year-old of importing drugs and assisting drug dealing.
The customs officials found 11.2 kilograms (24.7 pounds) of cocaine worth 750,000 euros ($798,000) hidden inside the batteries of his wheelchair during a check at Duesseldorf airport in October.
During the trial, the Curacao-born man initially denied knowing there was cocaine in his wheelchair. He later acknowledged smuggling the drugs under pressure, saying traffickers had threatened to harm his daughter in Curacao.
