The Public Prosecution Service (OM) suspects a police employee (40) from the Amsterdam Unit of leaking information from police systems and wants him to serve 18 months in prison. The prosecutor also demanded a prison sentence against a co-defendant from Almere for bribery. The officer, also from Almere, allegedly leaked information for 2.5 years in exchange for money. He has since been dismissed.
The case came to light on January 13, 2023, when the National Criminal Investigation Department decrypted encrypted communications from the Sky-ECC platform. The chats reveal that a 52-year-old suspect from Kleve, Germany received confidential police information. This was done through a 37-year-old suspect from Almere who approached and paid a police officer for this information.
Investigations into police systems and logs led digital detectives to the 40-year-old police employee. He is suspected of having searched for information about individuals intermittently for years. The police officer and the men from Almere and Kleve were arrested on September 5, 2023.
Addresses and license plates
The prosecutor from the National Prosecutors Office suspects the 37-year-old man from Almere of having requested police information about himself and others from October 2018 to June 2020. Among them are his partner, daughter, and neighbors. The man wanted to know if people were flagged, what someone had on their record, or asked for an address or license plate. He allegedly paid the police officer in cash. Initially, it was 50 euros, later 150 euros. At the home of the 37-year-old man, two gas weapons were also found. One was modified and hidden in a ski mask in a kitchen cabinet. Additionally, 2700 grams of hemp and 9 grams of MDMA were found. He is known to the police.
“The officers years of misconduct is the cardinal sin of any police official. By abusing his position, he has thrown the integrity of the police to the wind. The defendant knew that the man who paid him was involved in the criminal hemp scene. Perhaps he did not know what the information was intended for, yet it has caused damage to investigations. Therefore, an unconditional prison sentence is warranted.”
Threatened
The officer has confessed to leaking information from police systems. He also claims that he felt threatened by his local acquaintance, who is known to him. After the police officer received a higher position within the Amsterdam Unit, he stopped leaking information. The man has lost his job at the police.
The 37-year-old man was sentenced to two years in prison for bribery and the firearms. The prosecutor also demanded a fine of 10,000 euros. The case against the 52-year-old co-defendant will be handled later.
The court will rule in two weeks.