232 fugitive criminals were tracked down and arrested last year – 79 of which were in Belgium. The Federal Police's Fugitive Active Search Team (FAST) is responsible for 55 of those arrests, according to the annual report published on Tuesday. Three of the arrested criminals were on 'Belgium's Most Wanted' list.
FAST opened 144 new Belgian cases in 2022, 31% of which were apprehended the same year. The service also handled 34 new international files, 79% of which have already led to an arrest. Of the 232 fugitive arrests made in 2022, 79 took place on Belgian territory and FAST was responsible for 55 of those. In contrast, 78 out of 306 international files led to arrests in Belgium in 2021.
The 'Belgium's Most Wanted' list got a little shorter, thanks to the arrests of drug baron Flor Bressers, sex offender Rony Van Weyenberg and Nicolas Theodorou, convicted of attempted murder. The service stated that it is "extra proud" of the feat.
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Since 2019, FAST's operations have changed dramatically. "In 2022, after two transitional years, 'FAST 2.0' really took off," detailed the report. From now on, FAST will not only be tracking down convicted persons but also fugitive suspects. The arsenal of authorised investigation methods was also expanded and FAST is now working on a more international scale than ever before.
"2022 was a year of innovation, as seen through the very first FAST Hackathon," the Federal Police said in the report. On 30 March, specialists from various police and other security agencies tracked down fugitives through public sources such as social media networks and other websites. The project eventually resulted in eight arrests and won a CPL (Circle of Police Leadership) Award.
