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A Dutch appeals court has handed down a seven-year prison sentence in the “Mega Zenne” case to a man convicted of helping traffickers break into port computer systems as part of a cocaine-smuggling operation linked to Rotterdam and Antwerp.
In its ruling, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal said the defendant co-committed unlawful computer intrusion to gain access to port systems so drugs could be brought in “unseen and unnoticed.” The court also found him guilty of involvement in the import of 210 kilograms of cocaine into the Netherlands, and of attempted extortion.
The court said the hacking effort relied on an insider at an Antwerp port company. A port employee was recruited to plug a malware-loaded USB stick into a work computer, giving the group a foothold inside the terminal’s network. According to the court’s findings summarized by Dutch cybersecurity outlet Security.nl, the defendant prepared the malware, passed along the USB stick, and provided instructions on how to deploy it.
The ruling closely mirrors details reported earlier by OCCRP and its Czech member center, investigace.cz, in “Inside Job: How a Hacker Helped Cocaine Traffickers Infiltrate Europe’s Biggest Ports,” part of the NarcoFiles investigation. That reporting identified Dutch “black hat” hacker Davy de Valk as a key figure who sold access and logistics intelligence from major port IT systems to cocaine traffickers, including through an Antwerp terminal compromise enabled by a bribed office clerk who inserted a malware USB stick.
OCCRP reported that traffickers increasingly exploit digital port logistics to reduce the number of people they need to corrupt, using hacked access to container-management data to target shipments and arrange pickups. The investigation described how de Valk offered clients a full-service package—including forged transport orders and help retrieving containers—and referenced a separate 2020 Rotterdam seizure of more than 200 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a container of wine.
The appeals court reduced the sentence from an earlier 10-year term reported in 2022, citing an acquittal on one alleged larger import plot and an overrun of the reasonable time limit for appeal proceedings.
