If the Office of the Public Prosecutor (OPP) in Antwerp has its way, one of Belgium's biggest drug barons could be sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined €800,000.
According to the OPP, Othman E.B., who has gone into exile in Dubai, was responsible for importing 11 tonnes of cocaine into Belgium. The goods were seized in April 2021 in the Port of Antwerp.
The prosecution on Thursday requested prison sentences of up to 12 years for 17 other defendants, including two members of Othman E.B.'s family and his right-hand man, Youssef B.A.
Shipment traced thanks to Sky ECC decription
On 2 April 2021, customs checked a container in the port containing 11 tonnes of cocaine worth €275 million, in Belgium's second largest drug bust. The container had been imported via a ‘cloned’ company, i.e. the traffickers had usurped the identity of a company that actually existed.
After making a number of perfectly legal imports and successfully clearing customs, the criminal organisation loaded the containers with cocaine. To create further confusion, the destination of the cargo was changed during the crossing.
The decryption in 2021 of the Sky ECC messaging system, popular with criminal circles, enabled the police to trace the shipment back to Othman E.B. According to the OPP, it was he who organised the transport and had the necessary contacts in South America, where the drugs originated.
Othman E.B. was assisted by Youssef B.A., described as his right-hand man. The duo then called on a third man, Redouan A., who had the technical knowledge required to clone a company. Younes E.B., brother of the alleged mastermind, and Mohamed T., his brother-in-law, handled all the logistics on the European side of the Atlantic.
Trial delayed after defendant's lawyers recuse themselves
This case was joined to similar proceedings which, for the most part, involved the same protagonists. It was to have gone to trial in March 2023, but was delayed by a request from Younes E.B.'s lawyers to recuse themselves from the case.
The prosecution has requested twenty years' imprisonment for Othman E.B., who was sentenced last month to seven years in prison for importing 840 kgs. of cocaine through the Port of Antwerp. Younes E.B. has also already received a prison sentence for importing cocaine.
The prosecution requested eight-year prison terms for the brothers Nordin and Younes E.B., and sentences of 12, 11 and five years respectively for Youssef B.A., Mohamed T. and Redouan A.
Youssef B.A. was already on trial in early October for importing 15.2 tonnes of cocaine, and was sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment.
Main defendants still holed up in Dubai
Othman E.B., Younes E.B. and Youssef B.A. were absent from the trial on Thursday. They are reportedly still in Dubai.
Nordin E.B.'s lawyers asked for him to be acquitted, disputing his identification as a user of the Sky ECC messaging service. "Just because he is the 'brother of' does not mean he should be labelled as such; he is a stranger to the facts," defence attorneys Walter Van Steenbrugge and Kris Luyckx said. "He owns his own business and has nothing to do with drug trafficking."
Mohamed T.'s defence noted that he was a courier who simply carried out orders. "An eleven-year sentence is reserved for the highest profiles," his attorney, Jorgen Van Laer, argued.
