The United Arab Emirates (UAE) are refusing to extradite Antwerp drug criminal ‘dikke Nordin,’ or ‘Fat Nordin,’ despite multiple requests from the Belgian government.
Nordin El Hajjioui is one of the top targets of the justice department, De Standaard reports, charged with international drug smuggling and directing a criminal organisation that carried out attacks in the drug world.
El Hajjioui has been wanted by Antwerp judicial authorities for years and is considered one of the main players in the city’s cocaine trade, in addition to being linked to a series of arson attacks and shootings.
Requests date back to 2020
In 2020, the Antwerp Public Prosecutor’s Office sent three requests to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to extradite El Hajjioui, who resides in Dubai. El Hajjioui was arrested in Belgium in June 2020 but was quickly released after paying bail, whereupon he fled to UAE.
