| The Daily Star |
BEIRUT: A suspect detained last Sunday in one of Lebanon’s largest drug busts in more than a year is a notorious international drug and arms trafficker with connections to criminal rings across at least four countries, a security source told The Daily Star Wednesday.
Dutchman Robert Mink Kok, 50, along with three others, was arrested by the Internal Security Forces for possession of 53 kilograms of cocaine Sunday after months of investigation.
Kok, known in the Netherlands as Mink K., began his drug career shortly after he dropped out of law school at the University of Amsterdam, when he joined a Kibbutz in Israel.
There, he learned Hebrew and made connections that he would later use in his ecstasy export business. He later made a name for himself for being known as the first person to export ecstasy from the Netherlands, according to Dutch crime journalist Wim Van de Pol.
Shortly after his stint in Israel, he traveled to Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, where he made connections and learned about the hashish market.
He was arrested in 2000 and 2006 for his involvement in trafficking arms. Also in 2006, he was tried in Rotterdam for the murder of a hashish dealer, but was acquitted in 2007.
Van de Pol notes that any drug conviction for Kok would be significant, as his past convictions have so far only been related to arms trafficking.
Police officers from the Drug Control Bureau Sunday pursued two cars – a Range Rover and a Mercedes-Benz – in the Kaslik area north of Beirut after units alerted them that drugs, worth $2.3 million were being hidden inside the vehicles of a crime network.
After two weeks of monitoring and chasing members of the network in various areas including the city of Sidon, Jounieh and Beirut, the bureau had identified and arrested a Palestinian with a Bulgarian passport for possession of 53 kilograms of cocaine.
Police interrogation of the Palestinian suspect resulted in the arrest of three other people: Kok, 50, Irishman Sen Preston, 33, and Palestinians Ibrahim Radi Chahine, 49, and his son Radi Ibrahim, 30.
Dutchman Robert Mink Kok, 50, along with three others, was arrested by the Internal Security Forces for possession of 53 kilograms of cocaine Sunday after months of investigation.
Kok, known in the Netherlands as Mink K., began his drug career shortly after he dropped out of law school at the University of Amsterdam, when he joined a Kibbutz in Israel.
There, he learned Hebrew and made connections that he would later use in his ecstasy export business. He later made a name for himself for being known as the first person to export ecstasy from the Netherlands, according to Dutch crime journalist Wim Van de Pol.
Shortly after his stint in Israel, he traveled to Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, where he made connections and learned about the hashish market.
He was arrested in 2000 and 2006 for his involvement in trafficking arms. Also in 2006, he was tried in Rotterdam for the murder of a hashish dealer, but was acquitted in 2007.
Van de Pol notes that any drug conviction for Kok would be significant, as his past convictions have so far only been related to arms trafficking.
Police officers from the Drug Control Bureau Sunday pursued two cars – a Range Rover and a Mercedes-Benz – in the Kaslik area north of Beirut after units alerted them that drugs, worth $2.3 million were being hidden inside the vehicles of a crime network.
After two weeks of monitoring and chasing members of the network in various areas including the city of Sidon, Jounieh and Beirut, the bureau had identified and arrested a Palestinian with a Bulgarian passport for possession of 53 kilograms of cocaine.
Police interrogation of the Palestinian suspect resulted in the arrest of three other people: Kok, 50, Irishman Sen Preston, 33, and Palestinians Ibrahim Radi Chahine, 49, and his son Radi Ibrahim, 30.
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