Trial leads to 20 convictions for Clemenceau drug traffickers

The Brussels criminal court has handed down sentences ranging from one to eight years and fines as high as €64,000 in a major drugs trial involving dealers from the Clemenceau district in Anderlecht.

The trial involved 22 young men – 20 of whom were convicted – accused of participating in a criminal organisation that dealt cocaine and cannabis in and around Avenue Clemenceau between 2023 and 2024.

In addition to charges of participating in a criminal organisation, some were also charged with illegal possession of weapons, assault and battery, and inhumane treatment.

The investigation that led to the trial began in 2023 and was codenamed "Clinique", after the Rue de la Clinique in Anderlecht, near Clemenceau metro. It led to arrests after three rounds of house searches in January, April and May 2024.

The investigation also revealed that violent reprisals were organised between members of the gang at the slightest suspicion of theft of drugs or money.

Gang members tortured runners and dealers for allegedly failing to keep their agreements, and the atrocities were also filmed.

The average age of the men who stood trial was just 24, with some of them said to have begun dealing drugs as teenagers in search of "easy money". Others were notorious repeat offenders known to law enforcement.

In recent months, defendants under electronic surveillance broke their ankle bracelets and fled before later being rearrested.

One of the leaders of the trafficking ring received a sentence of eight years and a fine of €64,000. Another leader received seven years and a fine of €40,000, and a third was ordered to spend six years in prison and pay a fine of €25,000. A fourth received a five-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of €40,000.

Some members of the trafficking ring received partial or total suspended sentences. The court also imposed fines of €8,000, some of which were suspended.