Johannes van Damme

In this Dutch name, the surname is van Damme, not Damme.

Johannes van Damme (1 June 1935 – 23 September 1994) was a Dutch engineer and businessman executed in Singapore for drug trafficking. He was the first European to be executed in Singapore since its independence.

Johannes van Damme
Born	(1935-06-01)1 June 1935 Middelburg, Netherlands
Died	23 September 1994(1994-09-23) (aged 59) Changi Prison, Singapore
Occupation(s)	Engineer, businessman
Criminal status	Executed
Conviction(s)	Drug trafficking
Criminal penalty	Death

Biography

After graduating from the HTS Vlissingen in 1959, van Damme first worked as a technical engineer at the Kóni shock absorbers factory in Oud-Beijerland, then opened his own business in Hengelo manufacturing bicycle parts in the mid 1960s. After his firm went out of business in 1976, van Damme began travelling to Nigeria on a regular basis to work as an agent for a local Dutch engineering firm. In the early 1980s, van Damme moved permanently to Nigeria and was married to a local woman at the time of his arrest in Singapore.^[1][2][3]

In 1990, van Damme was arrested in Haarlem for the possession of 10 kilograms (22 lb) of cannabis. On 14 February 1991, he was sentenced in absentia to ten weeks in jail;^[4] however, he did not serve any time in prison as he was in Nigeria when the judgement was handed down.^[5]

Background to arrest

In the early 1990s, the US Drug Enforcement Administration set up the Kodiac car brokerage firm in Baltimore, Maryland, as a front company.^[6] As well as selling cars, the undercover DEA agents running the firm helped to transfer large amounts of money to foreign banks on behalf of local drug traffickers. The information gathered during these operations would then be used to help arrest drug offenders and used as evidence during their prosecution in court.^[7]

In October 1990, DEA agent Wilbert Lee Plummer (who was the undercover agent in charge of Kodiac) was introduced to a Washington D.C. based Nigerian national named Chidi Leon Eboh, who ran a drug smuggling network between Thailand and the United States. The syndicate would typically recruit African American couriers to travel to Singapore and await another drug mule to arrive from Bangkok with a shipment of heroin sourced from the Golden Triangle region. After receiving the narcotics, the American courier would then travel on to Europe, and would be paid on average US$10,000 for smuggling 5 kilograms of heroin.^[8]

In March 1991, DEA agent Plummer transferred US$80,000 to a bank account in Bangkok for a 5 per cent commission fee on behalf of Leon, and would transfer cash on two further occasions to Bangkok based bank accounts in the course of his investigations. DEA agent Plummer also purchased 100 grams of heroin from Leon for US$18,000 to build confidence with and embed himself further within the drug trafficking organization.^[9]

On 13 August 1991, Leon asked DEA agent Plummer to send US$22,000 to a Singapore-based Nigerian national named John Obiefuna, on the understanding the money was to be used to fund the purchase of heroin from Thailand. DEA agent Plummer informed Singapore-based DEA agent Harry Fullett about the transaction, who then alerted the Central Narcotics Bureau. Discovering Obiefuna was staying at the Westin Stamford Hotel on Stamford Road, the CNB bugged his hotel room and put him under 24-hour surveillance. On 22 August 1991, DEA agent Plummer wired the US$22,000 to Obiefuna's bank account as requested, and Obiefuna then moved out of the hotel to a rented apartment on Oxley Road.^[9][10] Obiefuna, who was on a 30-day social visit pass, subsequently registered a company whose nature of business was the import and export of children's clothing, and then applied for an employment pass to enable him to extend his stay in Singapore for up to two years.^[11]

On the night of 20 September 1991, undercover CNB agents observed Obiefuna appearing on the balcony of his apartment several times, as if he was expecting someone to arrive. Soon after, the agents spotted a European man emerge from a taxi on the same road. Obiefuna exited his apartment and walked down the street, and appeared to bump into the man. They talked for a short time, and then the European walked away to return to the nearby Lloyd's Inn hotel where he was staying. Subsequent investigations by the CNB agents identified the man as Dutch national Johannes van Damme.^[9]

Obiefuna and van Damme next met at a coffee shop, where undercover agents were waiting for them to arrive. A pair of agents disguised as American tourists sat beside the two men and started to record their surroundings on a video camera, thus capturing Obiefuna and van Damme speaking to each other on tape. One of the "tourists" then asked the pair if they could keep an eye on his bag for a few minutes while he recorded some footage of the street outside. Unknown to Obiefuna and van Damme, inside the bag was a hidden microphone and tape recorder, which captured their ensuing conversation where they discussed the details of their plan to have van Damme travel first to Thailand then onwards to Europe for a payment of US$20,000.^[9]

Van Damme subsequently booked a short package holiday in Phuket, and on arrival took a separate flight to Bangkok to collect a suitcase from Obiefuna's contacts. After receiving it, van Damme returned to Phuket on the same day and awaited his return flight to Singapore a few days later.^[10]

Arrest and trial

Van Damme was arrested on the afternoon of 27 September 1991 in the transit lounge of Singapore Changi Airport, after arriving from Phuket, Thailand and awaiting a connecting flight to Athens in the evening. Alerted by a police sniffer dog, narcotics officers had found 5.79 kilograms (12.8 lb) of heroin in a secret compartment of a suitcase belonging to him in the baggage area. On 12 October 1991, Nigerian engineer John Obiefuna was arrested at his Oxley Garden apartment in connection with the heroin van Damme was caught with.^[11] He was later charged with abetting van Damme in importing the heroin^[12] and was scheduled to face joint trial with him.

On 8 April 1993, the opening statement of Deputy Public Prosecutor Ismail Hamid described how officers, acting on information received, had kept van Damme under surveillance after he arrived from Thailand that afternoon. He was followed from the airport's interline transfer counter to the transit lounge, where he was then intercepted. Narcotics officers subsequently removed the lining of his suitcase and discovered two plastic bags containing a whiteish substance, which was later determined to be heroin. Both plastic bags were smeared with a dark paste that smelled of coffee.^[13]

During the trial, van Damme claimed he first met Obiefuna in a Singapore hotel in July 1991 and again in September 1991. At this second meeting van Damme mentioned he was going to Bangkok to meet fabric wholesalers. Obiefuna asked him to pick up a suitcase containing clothing while there, and bring it to Athens where someone would collect it on his behalf.^[14] When van Damme collected the suitcase it was empty, so he transferred the contents of his travel bag into it as he wanted it for his own use. Although he did wonder at the time if he had been given the wrong suitcase, van Damme testified that he planned to contact Obiefuna to clarify the issue. He only realized it contained drugs after officers forced it open in the Central Narcotics Bureau office in Changi Airport and showed him the two packets of heroin concealed in the false bottom of the suitcase.^[15]

Van Damme also challenged the admissibility of a statement he gave to Central Narcotics Bureau Inspector William Chew Khai Chow over five days between 30 September 1991 and 25 October 1991,^[16] where he said he knew about the drugs in the suitcase and that he would be paid US$20,000 to bring them to Athens. Van Damme claimed he was told that the officers were not interested in him but in the syndicate the drugs belonged to, and that he hoped he "could go home after I helped them with the statement".^[17] Van Damme testified to the court that the US$20,000 he was to be paid in Athens was offered by Obiefuna because he wanted to be on the board of directors of a company he was going to set up in Holland, and was not a payment for transporting illegal drugs.^[18] On 19 April 1993, Justice S. Rajendran ruled that van Damme's version of events regarding the recording of his original statement was probable and this would have amounted to inducement, thereby rendering the entire statement recorded by the Central Narcotics Bureau inadmissible.^[19]

 

John Obiefuna being led from court

On 20 April 1993, Justice S. Rajendran ruled Obiefuna had no case to answer and acquitted him of all charges, citing lack of evidence to warrant a conviction.^[15] According to the prosecution, Central Narcotics Bureau officers originally had Obiefuna under surveillance for a number of months, as they suspected him of traveling to Singapore to recruit couriers on behalf of an international drug trafficking syndicate^[11] and subsequently observed him talking to van Damme for about five minutes outside his Oxley Garden apartment on 20 September 1991. Apart from this, a piece of paper seized from van Damme with the name and Thai phone number of another Nigerian man and the Bangkok address where he collected the suitcase written on it,^[20] allegedly by Obiefuna, was submitted as evidence. However, a Department of Scientific Services officer testified that there was insufficient similarity between it and samples of Obiefuna's handwriting for a positive identification to be made.^[21]

On 21 April 1993, van Damme was questioned by Deputy Public Prosecutor Ismail Hamid about trips he made between July 1991 and September 1991.^[22] He traveled from Singapore to Bangkok then Vienna via Singapore and on to Zurich between 17 July and 11 August; then on 21 August he returned to Singapore before repeating the Bangkok to Zurich via Singapore trip again. Despite claiming he visited Singapore to source suppliers for a proposed communication center in Lagos, meet fabric wholesalers in Bangkok, and went to Vienna to shop for lace for his daughter's wedding dress, van Damme could not provide any documentary evidence to support his claims. When asked to produce corroborating evidence such as contracts, sales receipts or business cards, van Damme stated: "I never keep anything. When I've read a letter, I always throw it away".^[23] The pattern of his travels was used to help back up the prosecution's assertions that van Damme was in fact a drug mule who was fully aware of the contents of the suitcase seized at Changi Airport, and had agreed to carry the heroin from Bangkok to Athens via Singapore for a payment of US$20,000^[24]

"Mr Van Damme was unable or unwilling to answer anything clearly. I really don't necessarily want that man dead, as a prosecutor I do my job as best I can. To me this matter is as clear as day. The facts are rock solid and Van Damme cannot argue against them. Here in Singapore we are fair, but we have a law that no one should break. Certainly not drug legislation, because cocaine and heroin destroy our youth and disrupt our society. That is why we use the death penalty. Anyone who has been extremely wrong must pay extremely for it. With life."^[25]

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ismail Hamid speaking to reporters after cross examining Van Damme

Verdict

On 26 April 1993, van Damme was found guilty as charged and sentenced to death for importing 4.32 kilograms of pure heroin into Singapore, contrary to Section 7 of the Misuse of Drugs Act.^[26] Justice S. Rajendran told van Damme in his oral judgement: "I have no doubt in my mind that you knew that there was a controlled drug concealed in the bag". The judge found many parts of van Damme's testimony "quite unsatisfactory", such as:

• Van Damme made three trips to Bangkok via Singapore from European cities between 17 July 1991 and 16 September 1991, for which he could not produce documentary evidence to adequately explain his innocent reasons for doing so.
• Van Damme asked for and received US$4,300 from Obiefuna for expenses,^[27] despite no agreement being in place regarding Obiefuna joining the future company van Damme would set up in Holland.
• Van Damme's suspicion was not aroused by the unusually heavy weight of the empty suitcase he received in Bangkok.

In his final remarks, Justice S. Rajendran stated: “You will be taken from here to the place of execution. There you will be hanged by the neck until death. May the Lord forgive you."^[28]

 

The Singapore embarkation card contains a warning to visitors about the death penalty for drug trafficking

Appeals

On 23 November 1993, the Court of Appeal rejected van Damme's appeal against his conviction, ruling that the trial judge was correct in rejecting his defence that he was tricked by Obiefuna into carrying the heroin into Singapore in the false bottom of a suitcase. Defence lawyer Edmond Pereira had also argued that van Damme was in fact not in possession of the drugs, as the suitcase was under the control of the airline at all times until he arrived in Singapore; however, this was dismissed by the appeal judges.^[29]

On 6 May 1994, van Damme petitioned President Ong Teng Cheong for clemency. Acting on the advice of the Cabinet, the President turned down the petition on 7 July 1994.^[30][31]

A plea for clemency from the Dutch government was rejected by the president of Singapore, Ong Teng Cheong. A letter from Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands was also sent to the president in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent van Damme from being executed.^[32]

Incarceration on Death Row

Singapore-based Dutch national Guus van Bladel worked as a volunteer drugs counselor for the Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association in Changi Prison during the 1990s, and he visited van Damme weekly after he was convicted to help prepare him mentally for his execution.^[33] Bladel later published a book containing diary entries he kept during his time with van Damme, which detailed conversations they had in the visiting room of Changi Prison and also various events that occurred in relation to van Damme's criminal case.^[34] Bladel remarked that van Damme became more delusional as the day of execution approached and increasingly believed in his own innocence. He constantly asked Bladel about efforts his Dutch relatives were making to find engineers to verify the "trunk lid formula" he himself had come up with. Van Damme asserted that if he could demonstrate that the average person would not notice the extra weight of a few kilograms of powder when they opened the type of suitcase he was arrested with, he could prove that he had no reason to be suspicious and would therefore be able to rebut some of the trial judge's reasons for finding him guilty, and thus be able to quash his conviction.^[6]

In the days leading up to his execution, van Damme was given false hope (much to Bladel's annoyance)^[35] when a report came to light about his work as an informant for the Holland-based Central Criminal Investigation Information Service (CRI) regarding an international oil trading scam in Nigeria. Van Damme hoped that the report could be used to argue that he was set up by the same vengeful criminals he had provided information on, and that he could submit a new request for clemency or get a new trial where this new evidence could be used to cast reasonable doubt on his guilt.^[36] However, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Hans van Mierlo soon confirmed that although van Damme had had "incidental contact" with the CRI, there was no indication of a connection between van Damme's informant work and his arrest in Singapore.^[37] He also added that the report had already been handed over to van Damme's defense lawyer a year previously before the start of his trial, but van Damme did not want to use it during the proceedings, allegedly out of fear for the safety of his Nigeria-based family.^[38]

Van Damme was allowed to order meals of his choice in the lead-up to his execution, and on the day before he was brought to the gallows he had eaten roast chicken with salad and drunk Coca-Cola on ice for his evening meal, followed by fried eggs and sausages the next morning.^[33] A few hours before van Damme was put to death, his wife arrived from Nigeria for a final visit,^[39] and she was able to speak to him for several hours along with Guus van Bladel and Dutch pastor Joop Spoor. Van Damme's final meal, at his request, was a specially made pea soup with sausage provided by the Dutch Embassy of Singapore.^[40]

Execution

Van Damme was hanged at Changi Prison on the morning of 23 September 1994.^[41] The Central Narcotics Bureau issued a press release at 11:30am stating: "A convicted drug smuggler, Johannes Van Damme, a man aged 59 and a Dutch national, was put to death in Changi Prison this morning."^[42]

Van Damme's family later released a copy of the telegram that they received from Singapore prison officials: "Death sentence passed on Johannes Van Damme will be carried into effect on 23.9.94. Visit him on 20.9.94. Claim body on 23.9.94. Signed Superintendent, Changi Prison, Singapore."^[3]

Singapore Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar responded to European calls for clemency by saying it was completely untenable to make an exception in executing van Damme, as doing so would undermine the city state's reputation for integrity and impartial enforcement of its laws.^[43]

That same year, Mat Repin Mamat was also executed by hanging on 13 May 1994, for having smuggled 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of cannabis from Malaysia.^[44][45]

See also

• Capital punishment for drug trafficking
• Capital punishment in Singapore
• Disneyland with the Death Penalty

References

1. "Een grote, onhandige jongen Van Damme deed het graag kalmpjes aan". Trouw. 23 September 1994.
2. "Van Damme te intelligent voor smokkel van drugs". De Telegraaf. 19 April 1993.
3. Shenon, Philip (24 September 1994). "Singapore Executes a Dutch Engineer Arrested on Drug Charges". The New York Times. from the original on 9 February 2015. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
4. "Van Damme convicted before". The Straits Times. 6 October 1994.
5. "Hanged Dutchman had previous conviction". UPI. 6 October 1994.
6. "Een vaderfiguur voor andere terdoodveroordeelden". de Volkskrant. 30 September 1995.
7. "Van Damme liep in val Amerikaanse drugsbestrijders". Leeuwarder Courant. 10 October 1994.
8. "Van Damme gearresteerd dank zij Amerikaanse DEA". Nieuwsblad van het Noorden. 10 October 1994.
9. "Year long operation mounted by US agency". The Straits Times. 9 October 1994.
10. "DEA zette Singapore op het spoor van Van Damme". The Volkskrant. 28 September 1994.
11. "Foiled: Nigerian's plan to use S'pore as base to recruit drug couriers". The Straits Times. 13 October 1991.
12. "Businessman charged". The Straits Times. 15 October 1991.
13. "Dutchmans trial on heroin charge starts after 2 day delay". The Straits Times. 8 April 1993.
14. "Onbekende". De Telegraaf. 24 April 1993.
15. "Nigerian acquitted but Dutchman gives his defence". The Straits Times. 21 April 1993.
16. "Dutch engineer challenges his own statement". The Straits Times. 15 April 1993.
17. "Officers said they werent after me: Van Damme". The Straits Times. 17 April 1993.
18. "Money was for business, not drugs: Dutchman". The Straits Times. 16 April 1993.
19. "Dutch engineers 'confession' rejected by court". The Straits Times. 20 April 1993.
20. "唆使贩毒表面罪名不成立 尼日利亚商人逃过死罪昨获释放成为辩方证人". 联合早报 (Lianhe Zaobao). 21 April 1993.
21. "Witness not positive document was written by Nigerian". The Straits Times. 9 April 1993.
22. "Dutchman unable to show evidence for trips he made". The Straits Times. 22 April 1993.
23. "JOHANNES VAN DAMME Aan lager wal geraakt zakenman". NRC Handelsblad. 21 September 1994.
24. "Dutchman acted as 'mule'". The Straits Times. 24 April 1993.
25. "Handboeien". De Telegraaf. 24 April 1993.
26. "Dutchman gets death for importing 4 kg of heroin". The Straits Times. 27 April 1993.
27. "Van Damme verbijstert rechtbank Singapore Bekentenis brengt strop dichterbij". De Telegraaf. 21 April 1993.
28. "Moge de Heer u vergeven... NEDERLANDER NA UITSPRAAK METEEN AFGEVOERD NAAR DE DODENCEL". De Telegraaf. 27 April 1993.
29. "Dutchman loses appeal in $5 million heroin case". The Straits Times. 24 November 1993.
30. "Drug trafficker Van Damme hanged". The Straits Times. 24 September 1994.
31. "SINGAPORE: JOHANNES VAN DAMME LOSES FINAL BID FOR LENIENCY FROM SINGAPORE GOVERNMENT AND WILL BE HANGED FOR DRUG SMUGGLING". Reuters. 1994.
32. Last-ditch appeals fail to save drugs man from gallows 1 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Herald, 23 September 1994
33. "Een kus is mogelijk, een omhelzing niet". Trouw. 22 September 1994.
34. "Tussenstop Singapore: de zaak Johannes van Damme". 1 January 1995.
35. "Irritatie over 'duistere' actie advocaat". Trouw. 22 September 1994.
36. "Geen pijn en zorgen meer, schrijft Van Damme aan zijn vrouw". Trouw. 29 September 1995.
37. "Raadsman: Van Damme reageerde kalm op bericht van executie". Trouw. 21 September 1994.
38. "Van Damme dankte voor steun en 'rechtzetting'". Trouw. 23 September 1994.
39. "'Van Damme is verraden door zijn echtgenote'". Trouw. 23 September 2004.
40. "Rusitg afscheid zonder uitzinnige emoties". Het Parool. 23 September 1994.
41. "Singapore Executes a Dutch Engineer Arrested on Drug Charges". The New York Times. 24 September 1994. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
42. "Singaporees recht heeft zijn loop gehad". NRC Handelsblad. 23 September 1994.
43. "Jaya: Untenable to make exception". The Straits Times. 24 September 1994.
44. "Amnesty International Report 1995 – Singapore". from the original on 1 October 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
45. "Six men hanged for drug trafficking". The Straits Times. 14 May 1994.