Drug-busting operation 'Black Eagle' has come to a close with two ringleaders sentenced to nine years in prison.
Brussels Criminal Court has dealt out around 30 sentences following the major drug bust. Albanian ringleaders Alfredo Hamzai (52) and Indrit Kulaj (34) were both sentenced to nine years in prison. Both men also had assets seized (€650,000 and €450,000 respectively) and received fines of €8,000.
This sum was also dealt out to all accomplices, some of whom received prison sentences or community service while five were acquitted. The court also sentenced absent defendants to six years in prison. Prosecutors had originally requested 20-year sentences for both ringleaders.
Hamzai and Kulaj oversaw one of the most powerful cocaine networks in Belgium, importing the product from South America and selling it for €26,000 a kilo (worth €4,500 in its continent of origin). Operation Black Eagle sought to dismantle the network, first becoming aware of its existence when chemical products linked to cocaine production were discovered in Evere in September 2020.
Cocaine seized at the Port of Antwerp
On 3 June 2021, the taskforce clamped down, seizing 6,689 kilograms of cocaine (449 kilograms of which were intended for the organisation in question) from a banana container in the Port of Antwerp. The criminal gang had used rubber dinghies to access the drugs and employed managers, observers and "extractors" (responsible for withdrawing the cocaine from its hiding spot).
Drugs entered the country via private jets from Suriname, Paraguay, Ecuador, Uruguay, Bolivia and Brazil too.
Once in Belgium, "chemists" were hired to "clean" the product. Most of these employees were Colombian and were well acquainted with complicated practices such as separating cocaine from a substance it had been mixed with (charcoal, for instance) in order to smuggle it in undetected.
At one point, a diplomat posted to Brussels became involved in the scheme and was paid €10,000 per suitcase of cocaine smuggled into Belgium. This occurred when Kulaj was behind bars in Barcelona and Saint-Gilles. He was first apprehended in Spain in 2020 and attempted to continue his illegal activities from prison.
In its concluding remarks the Court highlighted the social disorder sowed by these criminal activities as well as the enormous environmental impact of the cocaine production process.
