Header Image: Pol Vandemeulebroucke
Nine people, including a former lawyer, have been arrested during various house searches by the Federal Police in recent days. The searches were part of an investigation into a large criminal organisation importing drugs from South America to Europe.
Several searches were carried out in the Flemish municipalities of Mortsel (3), Antwerp, Heist-op-den-Berg, Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Waver and Vilvoorde by the Federal Judicial Police East Flanders on Wednesday, 11 December, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office confirmed on Tuesday. The searches were related to a Federal Prosecutor’s Office file on narcotics trafficking.
Four people were deprived of their liberty and taken for questioning,” a statement from the Office read. Three of them were placed under arrest warrants by an investigating judge in Dendermonde for membership of a criminal organisation, and trafficking in narcotics.
A second series of searches followed yesterday, Monday 16 December, in the East Flemish communes of Beveren, Moerbeke and Temse, as well as in Nijlen, Hoogstraten and Stabroek (Antwerp).
“During these searches, another five people were deprived of their liberty and taken for questioning,” the Federal Prosecutor’s Office confirmed. “The examining magistrate will later decide whether to issue a warrant for their arrest.”
Famous lawyer arrested
One of the suspects arrested on Monday is former lawyer Pol Vandemeulebroucke, local media reported. He acted in notorious cases such as the Aquino case (trafficking of cocaine) and the Kasteelmoord (or Castle Murder, the case into the murder of a 34-year-old Belgian property developer found dead in a castle). He was also once the lawyer of Hans Van Themsche (who shot two people in Antwerp in 2006).
Read more at. https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/1358455/nine-people-arrested-in-connection-with-south-american-drug-gang
