CAPE TOWN – Former Dutch international Quincy Promes is set to restart his career in the United Arab Emirates, where he is fighting extradition to the Netherlands after serving a six-year prison sentence for drug trafficking.
The striker, who has 50 caps for the Netherlands, has joined second-tier side United FC of Dubai, the club said on social media.
A Dutch court said earlier this year that Promes was directly involved in the export of 1,360 kg of cocaine in two shipments in 2020 from Brazil to the Netherlands via the Belgian port of Antwerp.
The 32-year-old former Ajax Amsterdam and Sevilla forward was arrested at the request of the Dutch Public Prosecution Service while on a training camp with Russian club Spartak Moscow in Dubai in March.
Last year, Promes was sentenced in absentia to 18 months in prison for assault in connection with a fight in which he kneed a relative in 2020.
Promes has denied all charges and has appealed both cases.
In May he was released from custody under restrictions including not leaving the UAE.
Spartak Moscow terminated his contract at the end of June.
