8 suspects arrested as part of investigation into international drug trafficking.
The Liège Federal Judicial Police has arrested eight people suspected of international drug trafficking. During searches of several properties in the Liège area, Antwerp and the Brussels municipality of Elsene, police also seized a handgun, five kilogrammes of cocaine and 30,000 euro in cash.
A total of 11 properties were searched in Elsene (Brussels), Liège, Ans, Grâce-Hollogne (Liège Province) and Antwerp. The investigation that is being led by an Examining Magistrate in Liège has been ongoing for several years. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office says that those detained have suspected links to the Italian Mafia.
In 2015, the Italian Guardia di Finanza launched “Operation Gentleman”. This led to the arrest of 33 members of a mafia clan in the city of Catanzaro.
The Federal Judicial Authorities told journalists that “The Italian investigation revealed an extensive trade in drugs, including cocaine, from South America. The head of the clan was arrested in Frankfurt after he had been on the run for three years.” During those three years the man allegedly built a new logistics base in Germany in order to coordinate the trade in drugs between Belgium to southern Italy.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office told journalists that in November 2020 the Belgian Judicial Authorities had been made aware of the presence of several suspects in the Liège area and an investigation was opened here in Belgium.
“The investigation was carried out by the Liège Federal Judicial Police. It has revealed the possible existence in Belgium of extraction cells, cells in charge of taking away goods that have, for example, been transported clandestinely to a port”.
“These cells were active in countries including Ukraine, Spain, Sweden, Norway and also in Belgium and the Netherlands. The hacking of the SKY ECC encrypted messaging platform enabled police to retrieve a lot of information about the criminal organisation”.
