An international smuggling operation run by a Brussels-based Chinese couple has been broken up by police. The pair sent drugs in innocuous-looking parcels by air freight to the U.S. and Australia.
Late last week, an investigation that first opened in April 2021 saw police raid two houses in Ruisbroek (Saint Pieters-Leeuw) and Laeken.
Officers found drugs and shipping material and arrested a 39-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman, the Federal Judicial Police of Halle-Vilvoorde announced Tuesday.
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The case started when investigators discovered packages destined for Australia contained 4.8 kilograms of the hallucinogenic party drug ketamine mixed in with old clothing and paintings. Investigators then found similar packages were en route to the U.S.
Last week, police found in the Ruisbroek house discovered were large amounts of material intended to prepare similar shipments. Police seized 130 grams of crystal meth and 65 grams of an unknown powdery substance. They also found cartons, hollow plastic protection plates, empty bottles of standard care products, empty coffee cans filled with drugs and a vacuum machine to make the packages airtight less easy to detect.
