Gerrit van R., a 36-year-old fugitive from Eindhoven, Netherlands, has been arrested in the Turkish resort city of Antalya, AD reports.Turkish authorities took the man, previously identified as a key figure in a Brabant-based drug network, into custody after intelligence services tracked his movements and located his hideout, according to Turkish media reports.

Van R. had been internationally wanted for several years. He was sentenced in May 2026 to 10 years and 9 months in prison for large-scale drug trafficking. Video from the arrest shows him wearing shorts and red flip-flops as Turkish officers led him away. At the police station, he was photographed on his knees with his hands cuffed, flanked by two officers, a practice sometimes used in Turkey.

His central role in the Dutch synthetic drug trade came to light through a covert FBI operation. U.S. investigators developed an encrypted messaging platform called Anom and distributed the devices in criminal circles. Van R. and his associates used the phones extensively, unaware that authorities could read the messages.

The chats reportedly showed Van R. handled MDMA, crystal meth, and amphetamine, with a particular focus on amphetamine, also known as speed.

He allegedly arranged locations for labs in Helmond and Heerlen, where the drug was manufactured, packaged or sold. Some of the output was smuggled abroad. Court records established him as the central figure in a smuggling route to Sweden. In April and May 2021, authorities in Scandinavia seized three shipments totaling 82 kilograms, 100 kilograms, and 60 kilograms of speed, with a combined street value of about 3.5 million euros.

The appeals court described his role in the verdict: “The suspect pulled the strings. He determined where and when work was done, arranged the goods and the raw materials, and maintained contact with buyers and transporters of the drugs.”

The 2026 sentence was his most severe, but not his first. In late 2022 he was convicted for involvement in a speed lab in the Frisian village of Oudebildtzijl and received eight months on appeal. In an earlier case he was found with amphetamine, a large quantity of cannabis, four stun guns, and 71 canisters of tear gas while setting up a lab in a rented warehouse; that case brought a 17-month sentence on appeal.