Organised crime networks hit in Belgium's biggest police operation

After more than two years of intensive investigations, some 200 simultaneous searches took place on Tuesday morning in the context of a major operation against organised crime in Belgium.

More than 17 tonnes of cocaine were discovered, along with €1.2 million in cash, 15 prohibited weapons including six firearms, eight luxury vehicles, three cash-counting machines, police uniforms and GPS beacons. Some 48 people were arrested.

The operation was managed by the federal prosecutor's office and led by an investigating judge of the Antwerp district court, division of Mechelen. On the ground, the investigation was undertaken by the federal judicial police, mainly from the Antwerp section, but searches were also carried out in Brussels, Charleroi and Liège. A total of 1,600 police officers were deployed in six judicial districts, including 265 officers from special units, making it Belgium’s biggest-ever police operation.

The investigation revolved around the dismantling of an encrypted communications network that is used by criminal organisations to plan their trafficking. The bulk of the investigation was aimed at destabilising these criminal organisations by neutralising encrypted vendors, drug dealers and their protectors. A total of one billion encrypted messages were intercepted, nearly half of which were exploited to carry out this investigation. The communication network under investigation uses SKY ECC cryptophone devices, sometimes called PGP ("Pretty Good Privacy" phones), which are widely used in organised crime circles.

The operation is the result of intense international cooperation with foreign services and Europol providing intelligence to the Belgian authorities. In Belgium, law enforcement forces had been mobilised throughout the country with a particularly large deployment around Antwerp, where the port is a hub for drug trafficking. Searches were also carried out in Brussels, Limburg and Wallonia.

"The police and the judiciary were able to record this result against organised crime through good cooperation, with foreign services and Europol, and through the use of special research methods and state-of-the-art technological means," the Belgian authorities said in a statement.

The operation backs up the government’s recent claim that it will vigorously combat organised crime in Belgium and will support services as much as possible in investigations, the statement continued.

“These large, coordinated interventions are crucial to combating organised crime,” said deputy prime minister and justice minister Vincent Van Quickenborne. “The judiciary and the federal judicial police have invested a great deal in recent months to achieve this breakthrough and today's operation is the first result."

Interior minister Annelies Verlinden was also pleased with the success of the operation. "Today, organised crime has taken a hit, not only in our country but also beyond. We can be proud of that. Our police and the federal prosecutor's office have done a really good job.”