From the glory of championships to prison: Rony S. sentenced to 7 years in prison for drug cases
The Breda court sentenced former professional football player Rony S., 41, to seven years in prison for cocaine trafficking and money laundering. This sentence is much lower than the 13-year penalty requested by the prosecution, as not all charges against him were proven.
His older brother, aged 43, was sentenced in absentia to three and a half years in prison, compared to the six years that the prosecution had requested. He is still at large and is believed to be living in Dubai, having previously served a four and a half year prison sentence for similar offenses.
The court described the two brothers as links in the chain of global trade in hard drugs, noting that their motive was purely financial profit with no regard for the harm caused to society. It also imposed a fine of 30,000 euros on each of them and confiscated criminal profits amounting to 1.7 million euros.
Rony S. was arrested on June 10 of last year along with several family members. His conviction was largely based on decrypted messages from the Sky ECC application, which was used by criminals for communication. During the trial, the court noted that the defendant did not provide adequate explanations for the charges but focused on the potential impact of his arrest on his son's football career and his business ventures.
Rony S. ended his professional career in 2016 with NAC Breda, after achieving notable accomplishments, including winning the Dutch league with FC Twente in 2010. He also previously played for the Belgian club Standard Liège and the English club Wigan Athletic.