THE HAGUE — The former board members of Parke Tropikal, Joost Pronk and Jan de Nijs were given fifteen months imprisonment of which five months conditional today for smuggling protected birds from Curaçao to The Netherlands. The OM demanded twelve months of which six conditional for Parke Tropikal employee Jaime Felix.

By our correspondent

Otti Thomas

Moreover, the Public Prosecutor (OM) wants the three suspects to hand over their income from the smuggling. For Pronk and De Nijs it regards an amount of 9171 euros each and for Felix it regards 1250 euros.

The Public Prosecutor described Pronk and De Nijs as the founders and leaders of a criminal organization who smuggled protected bird species to The Netherlands, while Felix was considered an employee who by order traveled to the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Cuba to buy birds that were subsequently smuggled to The Netherlands.

The case became known when De Nijs (manager of Parke Tropikal) was apprehended at Schiphol in July 2009 carrying 117 songbirds in his hand luggage, of which 30 had already died. Subsequently on Curaçao, the police also arrested the well-known executive Pronk, who was also secretary of Parke Tropikal, and employee Felix. According to the Public Prosecutor, amongst others they smuggled indigo finches, black-winged tanagers, blue cardinals and redbreast cardinals. The officer of Justice said the smuggling was a form of animal abuse.

At the time, the lawyers of the three suspects argued that it wasn’t entirely certain the smuggled birds actually were protected species. According to lawyer Gerard Spong, who defended Pronk, his client received advice from bird expert Eric Newton, who claimed the traded birds were not a threatened or protected species.

The court will give a verdict on the case on September 28^th.