Fugitive Dutch Pill Dealer Caught in Turkey in Red Slippers

A fugitive Dutch drug dealer who was a key figure in an amphetamine smuggling operation has been arrested in Turkey - wearing shorts and red slippers.

Gerrit van R. (36), from Eindhoven, was taken into custody in Antalya on the Turkish Riviera. Intelligence services tracked his movements after establishing he was hiding in the country, according to Turkish media. Video shows him being led away by Turkish agents in a short outfit, later displayed at the police station on his knees, handcuffed and flanked by officers - a common sight in Turkey.

Van R. had been sentenced in May to ten years and nine months in prison for large-scale drug trafficking. His prominent role in the Dutch pill industry came to light thanks to an FBI trick: agents secretly developed the encrypted phone service Anom and distributed it in the criminal underworld. Van R. and his accomplices used the phones eagerly, unaware that investigators could read their messages.

The chats revealed he dealt in MDMA, crystal meth and amphetamine, specializing in the latter. He arranged locations for drug labs in Helmond and Heerlen. In April and May 2021, three shipments of speed - 82, 100 and 60 kilograms, with a street value of around 3.5 million euros - were intercepted in Scandinavia.

"The suspect pulled the strings. He decided where and when work was done, arranged the goods and raw materials, and maintained contact with buyers and transporters," the appeals court wrote in its verdict.

It was his heaviest sentence but not his first: previous convictions included involvement in a speed lab in Friesland and possession of amphetamine, cannabis, stun guns and tear gas. He was still on probation when the FBI trick put him back in investigators' sights. His lawyer declined to comment.