Belgium’s largest drug trial ends with over 100 convictions

A Belgian court sentenced over 100 people for drug-related crimes in the country’s biggest drug trial, cracking down on a major criminal network which operated as far as South America and Morrocco.

Kicking off in Brussels at the end of last year, the trial lasted five months. A total of 129 defendants were accused of being part of several drug gangs that were behind the large-scale import of cannabis and cocaine into Europe.

Key gang leaders received the longest sentences, ranging from seven to 17 years in prison, while other defendants, including a former police officer, received prison terms ranging from 14 months to 15 years. Nine people were acquitted of the charges.

Besides drug trafficking, defendants were also punished for their involvement in violence, money laundering, extortion and kidnapping.

Encrypted communication as evidence?

For years, drug criminals communicated and orchestrated drug trafficking via the phone service Sky ECC, a platform that was deemed “impossible to crack”.

In March 2021, the Belgian police announced that they had hacked into the system and admitted intercepting encrypted messages for over two years. Later that year, a massive search operation took place, with raids at 114 different locations in Belgium in October.

Defence lawyer Kris Luyckx criticised the decrypted messages for not being obtained legally and claimed that this impacts the integrity of the justice system.

Luyckx added that the majority of defendants saw heavy sentences and questioned whether this would effectively solve the drug problem in Antwerp or Brussels.

Brussels court spokesperson Denis Goeman argued that the sentences were just as the drug gang presented a danger to society. “The organisation had branches in all kinds of social sectors,” which Goeman claimed is a risk to “destabilise society.”