Dutch court sentences hacker who used port systems to smuggle cocaine to 7 years

A Dutch appeals court sentenced a 44-year-old man to seven years in prison for hacking a major port company in Belgium to help smuggle cocaine into the Netherlands. According to The Amsterdam Court of Appeal, the man played a central technical role in a criminal network that exploited port computer systems in 2020 and 2021, allowing traffickers to move drugs through Europe’s logistics hubs without detection.

Prosecutors said the operation enabled the import of 210 kilograms of cocaine via the Port of Rotterdam, one of Europe’s largest ports and a key gateway for global trade. According to court documents, the defendant persuaded a port employee at a container terminal in Antwerp to plug a USB stick loaded with malware into a work computer, creating a digital backdoor that gave remote access to internal port systems used to manage containers, gates and personnel access.