A man was seriously injured after trying to escape via the rooftops from a large-scale police raid on a suspected gang of Albanian drugs dealers, police said.
The raid took place at the gang’s base in Grimbergen in Flemish Brabant and a number of other premises. Police seized €100,000 in cash, motor vehicles, 20kg of cocaine with a street value of one million euros, and made 11 arrests.
“The arrests involved nine men and two women,” said a spokesperson for the judicial police of Halle-Vilvoorde. “One suspect lives in Antwerp, one in Brussels, the others live in the Halle-Vilvoorde area.”
During the raid, one man tried to escape by crossing the rooftops of surrounding buildings, but fell. He was taken to hospital suffering from serious injuries.
The other suspects will be brought before an investigating magistrate who will decide whether they should be remanded in custody or charged and released on bail.
The gang is accused of transporting cocaine in a fleet of lorries fitted with hidden compartments. Most of the shipments are believed to have been made to Italy, where Italian police also carried out searches.
Police here will also investigate a possible connection to the murder in April of an Albanian restaurant owner in Strombeek, a part of Grimbergen municipality. The killer was caught immediately, and the crime was thought to have been a settling of scores in the drugs world.
Alan Hope
The Brussels Times
