Belgium is second top synthetic drugs producer
Belgium ranks second in the production and exportation of syntheticdrugs,says UN report.

10 September 2008

BELGIUM-Belgium ranks second after the Netherlands in the production and exportation of synthetic drugs such as ecstasy,reports the daily De Morgen on Wednesday.

The Netherlands is the main producer of amphetamines and ecstasy,reveals the latest report by UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

belgium's central location and the presence of large port facilities such as Antwerp Docks mean belgium has been an ideal base for cocaine traffickers for many years now.

However,the increased volume of laboratory produced drugs passing though or being made in Belgium is a new trend.

Belgian drugs are not only bound for customers in Europe,but also in Mexico,Canada,Australia and the Middle East.

Belgian police chief Werner Verbruggen told the VRT that 80 percent of the drugs labs are in or near to the Dutch border in Antwerp and Limburg provinces.

The UNODC researchers say that many international smuggling networks also pass through Belgium on their way to Canada and Asia.

Liege starts top gangster Marcel Habran trial
Top gangster Marcel habran stands accused for eight murders and several armed raids.

LIEGE-Top Liege gangster Marcel habran stands on trial Wednesday for eight murders and several armed hold ups,along with 11 other defendants.Habran is seen as the godfather of organised crime in the eastern city of Liege.

The 75-year-old who was previously in jail for over 20 years is being charged for an armed raid on a Brinks money transport in Waremme in 1998 and eight other murders in 2001.

In 1998,the robbers stopped the Brink's van carrying money on the motorway,and killed the driver and one of the guards before fleeing the scene without any loot.

Witnesses say the failed robbery led to a bitter dispute among members of the Habran gang.Several gangsters started talking to the police.One of the witnesses,a habran member,was later murdered.

In February 2001,a series of settling of acounts started in the organised crime scene in Liege and left eight people dead.

Only one defendant has admitted his involvement.

There is no material evidence against the criminals,only witnesses accounts.Witnesses do enjoy judicial protection,but several fear for their lives.

To reduce the risk of assassination,unprecedented security precautions are in place at the Liege Law Court.

Police informer murdered

BRUSSEL-A man who was shot in the head and killed by a gang of youths in the Brussels municipality of Anderlecht on Saterday had been one of Brussels and Elsene Police Service's most important informants.A report in Wednesday's edition of the daily 'De Morgen' says that Roy Jabbour had helped the police keep tabs on criminals for several years.

Mr Jabbour's family says that he knew that his life was in danger.Last Friday,he reportedly told his son that he probably wouldn't be still alive by Monday.The area of Anderlecht where Mr Jabbour was killed is notorious for street crime,anti-social behaviour and drugs.

There had been some unrest on the Lemmensplein earlier on Saterday evening.Things had calmed down somewhat by 11pm and the police withdrew.A little later,Mr Jabbour was surrounded by a mob of youths and beaten before being shot in the head.

he died in an ambulance on his way to the hospital.There is still no trace of any youths that attacked him.

A smoke screen

At first,Mr Jabbour's murder was believed to have been linked to the recent unrest between supporters of Sporting Anderlecht and local youths.However detectives now believe that the trouble was a smoke-screen to facilitate the murder of Mr Jabbour.

Mr Jabbour was a Lebanese national and had helped the police break up several drug-rings a few years ago,but had since been black-listed.He was suspected of having used his position as a police informer to get rid of rival drug dealers.

Gangster gets police job

The newspaper Het Nieuwsblad reports on Sunday that a man found guilty of forty offences incurred little difficulty in being recruited by the police.The former gangster was taken on as a cleaner in Brussels.

In July a WPC thought the cleaner seemed familiar.Colleagues too remarked on it.The police data bank revealed that the cleaner had earlier been found guilty of 40 serious crimes including hold-ups,arms possession,carrying arms and drug offences.

The cleaner had only been out of jail for two weeks when he was given the job.The former gangster's sheet had been checked,but this information did not reach the personnel department.

The cleaner was given a badge that gave him access to the entire Brussels police station.Police spokesman Christian De Coninck told Het Nieuwsblad that when the facts came to light,the cleaner was packed off on holiday and the police now intend to sack him.

West Flemish narcotics gang rounded up

Judicial authorities have rounded up a gang that has been smuggling drugs to the UK.Three people have been arrested,including a lorry driver.

The gang had been smuggling drugs in fire extinguishers that were smuggled across the border by lorry drivers.

The drugs got through control checks easily because noodour can be detected through the cylinders of the extinguishers.

The police got wind of the operation following months of detective work.A lorry driver from Brugges and a man from Nieuwpoort have been arrested.The police are still investigating other gang members.

Jailbreak sparks Belgium outcry
A spectacular prison break by Belgium's most famous escapee has led to new calls for an overhaul of Belgian jails.

Self-styled "jailbreak king" Nordin Benallal is still at large after his accomplices used a helicopter to free him from prison on Sunday.Previous escapes had seen him run from a prison van,walk out of jail wearing a wig and sunglasses and scale a prison wall with a rope ladder.

Politicians and unions are now calling for more investment in prison security.

Benallal escaped from a prison in Ittre,20 miles south of Brussels,after one of his accomplices landed a hijacked helicopter in the prison yard.Commotion followed the landing ,enabling Benallal and his accomplices to take two guards hostage and flee the prison in a car.

The facility was opened in 2002 and is reputed to be one of the most modern and secure in the country.But a staff trade union spokesman,Michel Jacobs,said there was no such thing as zero risk.

Dangerous man

Benallal's escape was Belgium's second successful prison break involving a helicopter in 2007.An escape from another prison on 15 April prompted a report by the Federal Justice Service on enforcing prison security.

One proposed measure,already implemented in five prisons,is the placing of wire nets over prison yards,at a cost of 3 million EUR.Alternative and cheaper methods proposed include the jamming of mobile phone signals and installation of new surveillance cameras.

Meanwhile,prosecutors say recaptering Benallal might prove difficult.As he already faces more than 50 years in jail,he may resort to desperate measures if cornered,Belgian media reports.

Prison break from 2006

Mass break-out hits Belgium jail
Twenty-eight inmates escaped from a Blegian prison early on Saterday after overpowering guards.

Six were swiftly recaptured,but police have launched an extensive search operation for the others.

Two prisoners managed to force their cell door open and took several guards hostage,demanding their keys,local officials said.The two then freed 26 others at Dendermonde jail,north-west of brussels.No-one was hurt.

The escaped prisoners managed to get into the prison courtyard and succeeded in scaling the prison walls.

The authorities were unable to say how the cell door had been forced or whether any dangerous criminals had managed to escape.

GODFATHER OF LIEGE-PART 1

Today sees the first witness testimoney in the trial of Marcel Habran,the so-called godfather of Liege.Habran is accused of masterminding an armed robbery at Findel Airport in 2000,as well as the murder of two security guards in Belgium.

Witnesses are also likely to link him with the hijacking of a security truck in Esch-sur-Alzette.Key testimony comes from a former associate of Habran,Pol Maréchal,but he was shot dead in his garage in 2004.

It will be Maréchal's wife who'll take the stand to corroborate his evidence.

Prosecutors are also expected to reveal a plot by Habran to kill the Chief Inspector of the Liege police and an assistant prosecutor.Altogether there is testimony from 625 witnesses to be examined.

Marcel Habran

Blunder by public prosecutor suspends the Habran process

The judicial process before the Assize Court in Liege against one of the most notorious gangster groups of the last decades,the Marcel Habran gang,has been temporarily adjourned because the public prosecutor read the wrong act of accusation.

In the Habran case there are two deeds circulating,a long (400 pages) and an abridged version 115 pages.The Prosecutor started to read the long one yesterday,while the defence lawyers only had received the short version.

The barristers protested because the people's jury had heard a different act from the one that they had studied.According to one of the lawyers this could lead to challenging the jury.Court chairman Dewart suspended the proceedings.

The debates will resumed this morning.There is a chance the barristers will plead for an annulment of the process.The chairman can also decide to call a new jury in order to restart the process.It is probably,though,that it will continue by reading the proper act.

Only in Belgium could something like this happen! (on a regular base)

You are Belgian Willy?Do they have a strong case against the Habran gang?

The case against habran and his associates is pretty strong. So I think they are facing some long prison stretches. At least most of them. But I doubt if most are going to stay behind bars for the rest of their lives. Habran probably will. In Belgium you rarely get a 'real' life sentence. With the 'Lejeune-law', that states that you can be released after serving 1/3th of your original sentence.

But the safety procedures surrounding this trial are unseen in Belgium. One witness was already killed a couple of years ago. And there is a risk something like that might happen again.

Prosecutors investigating bribery at STVV

Wednesday 24-9-2008

Belgium is bracing itself for a new soccer scandal.Federal prosecutors are investigating whether soccer players at Sint-Truiden club STVV accepted money to throw matches last year.

The results of six matches last season are suspect.

A spokeswoman for the federal public prosecutor's office told the VRT that the investigation was triggered by a complaint ahead of the summer.

federal public prosecutors had already been examining possible bribery in connection with STVV's match against Anderlecht on 26 April.

Anderlecht came from 1-0 down to win the match 4-1.

After the match it became clear that massive amounts had been bet in China on Anderlecht winning the game with a three goal differential.

A soccer association official told the VRT that the matter had been handed on to the public prosecutor's office as soon it became clear that the Chinese mafia was involved.

In Holland allot of informers are getting killed.Atleast four have been killed.

Large scale raid on traffickers

Saterday 18 Ocrober 2008

BELGIUM-In a large scale raid against the trafficking in human beings in Belgium,15 traffickers were arrested as well as some 200 people illegally in Belgium.The police carried out several house searches and raids as part of an investigation that has been ongoing for close to a year.


The police raided 19 houses in Brussels,Vilvoorde (to the north of Brussels) and Tubize (to the south).15 suspected traffickers including some chief suspects were arrested.

The police also found at least 200 people who are in Belgium illegally in their raids.They were living in wretched conditions.

Some were shacked up in safe houses,used as places of hiding for many illegals.In one4 house in Brussels 24 people were packed into a room of 12 meters2.

Toiday's roundup is the result of an investigation of almost a year.

A network of traffickers in humans is thought to have been operating in Belgium for the past year and a half.Hudreds of illegal immigrants from India have allegedly been smuggled through Belgium into the UK.The operation has allegedly been very lucrative for the traffickers.

The investigation into the network started after a couple of human traffickers operating from India were arrested.It soon became clear that the demand for illegal immigration from Asia is huge.People are willing to pay enormous amounts of money to the smugglers:between 1500 EUR and 5000 EUR reportedly.

The gangs in Belgium are operating from parking lots along the motorways.The candidates for immigration to the UK are loaded on to UK-bound lorries.The lorry driver are reportedly offered huge amounts of money to transport the refugees.

Belgian drug gang caught in Thailand

BANGKOK-Four members of Belgium's "most wanted" drug-trafficking gang were arrested on Thailand's resort island of Samui,said Thai police Thursday.

The four,two Belgian and two Dutch citizens,had fled Europe after the Belgian police broke up a trafficking ring last year responsible for bringing in from Latin America 250 pounds of heroin,400 pounds of cocaine and 350 tonnes of marijuana,a Thai police spokesman said.

The street value of the seized drugs was 150.000 dollars,he added.

belgian police officers helped identify the suspects after Thai narcotics agents moved swiftly to arrest the fugitives in an early morning raid on the island of holiday bungalows and cocoanut trees.

The four were named as Ronald Koornwinder,46,and Paulus Meyer,44,both from the Netherlands,and Belgians Koen van Staay and Kelly Cautereels,25,the only woman in the group.

Two other members of the gang are still abroad.

"The Belgian authorities alerted us so we were able to seize the suspects before they got nervous and fled again.They will be extradited to Belgium as quickly as possible,"Lieutenant General Vuth Liptapallop said.

Belgian police bust drug trafficking ring

EDMONTON JOURNAL JANUARY 21, 2012

Police have busted an international drug-trafficking ring and arrested 15 suspects, including an Italian Mafia boss they consider to be the mastermind, Belgian police said Friday.

The Italian, from southern Italy's Salerno region, was known to police for his involvement in the Naples Mafia, the Camorra, since the 1980s.

Police carried out 20 raids across Belgium, France and Spain in a cross-border probe that lasted a year.

They seized 35 kilograms of pure cocaine with a street value of about $4 million Cdn, and about $223,000 in cash.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Belgia...1450/story.html