Fourteen people were arrested across Flanders on Thursday during some thirty house searches as part of an ongoing judicial investigation into alleged drug smuggling by a family from Mechelen.
This was reported by the Antwerp Public Prosecutor’s Office. The key figures are a 34-year-old man from Mechelen and a 39-year-old man from Beveren-Kruibeke-Zwijndrecht.
The investigation began in 2023, when the federal judicial police received information that members of a Mechelen family were allegedly involved in international drug trafficking. Four family members were spotted together in a Mechelen hotel a little later, with a 34-year-old man who was believed to be in charge.
Further investigation revealed that this key figure, together with a 39-year-old man, had built up a criminal network, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, to recruit people in the port or transport sector, sometimes through threats. They used advanced, encrypted communication and also employed a technical intermediary for this purpose.
The gang allegedly had access to essential logistical and operational information about a quay in the port, enabling them to organise cocaine smuggling.
An additional, separate investigation has been launched into the 39-year-old man from Beveren-Kruibeke-Zwijndrecht and his 38-year-old brother on the basis of intercepted Sky ECC messages. This investigation also concerns the import (and sale) of cocaine and the recruitment of port and security personnel for this purpose.
The searches took place in Antwerp, Beveren-Kruibeke-Zwijndrecht, Bruges, Duffel, Leuven, Mechelen, Merksem, Mortsel, Rumst, Sint-Niklaas and Wilrijk, in port terminals and in cells in the Antwerp and Bruges prisons.
Fourteen people were arrested and investigators seized five vehicles, a brass knuckle, cash, a luxury watch, a crypto payment card, a money counting machine and a large number of mobile phones, in addition to a limited quantity of narcotics.
