the boss Lucio Aquino arrested in the maxi anti-Ndrangheta operation "Eureka"

https://www.gva.be/cnt/dmf20230503_92637590

Interesting first time the five still living brothers are directly linked to the mother organisation.

Mafia suspects arrested in Belgium to be handed over to Italy

Three of the 13 people arrested in Belgium as part of the vast police operation against the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta mafia, will be handed over to Italy, the federal prosecutor’s office confirmed

https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgi...ed-in-belgium-to-be-handed-over-to-italy

They were very sophisticated in the money transfers around the world and laundered millions of euros in cash thanks to the Chinese criminal circuits.

«We are contacting the Chinese to send the money to the "kangaroos"»
"Everything's fine - explains Sebastiano Strangio - today they have to deliver the money to South America for the work in Australia ". A few days later, the Giorgi clan wondered why " the referents in Ecuador " had not "yet withdrawn the money sent".

Giuseppe N., Marcello N. and Sebastiano S.

I'm still convinced the Haemers gang and/or Baasrode gang were involved.and there is a link to stay-behindnetwork GLADIO.

In the broadcast of the Dutch SBS6 program Peter R. de Vries, crime reporter of April 22, 2007, it was suggested that Gladio would still be active in the Netherlands. During its own investigation that started a few years earlier, the crime program came across the phenomenon that thousands of firearms disappeared from 'the upper world' into 'the underworld'. This was done according to a fixed construction, so that the weapons remained untraceable. Arms dealers have been arrested by the police at home and abroad , but the judiciary invariably made sure that the suspects were not brought to justice. It is suspected that these weapons were intended for Gladio.

@ TKJ

The Agusta scandal was another huge story linked to the Sicilians.

Lucio Aquino also had links to the Bandidos. The amount of cocaine they smuggled to Europe is incredible.

The Court of Cassation in Belgium has rejected the cassation appeal of three alleged Italian mafiosi from Belgian Limburg in the Eureka investigation, into members of the Italian mafia clan 'ndrangheta. One of them has already been surrendered to Italy. The same fate threatens for five other suspects. That writes the Importance of Limburg .

Donato O. (35) has been the first of the six suspects in an Italian cell since Wednesday. The cassation appeals of his cousin Lucio Aquino (61) and Francesco S. (56) were also rejected. The same fate now threatens his brother Sebastiano S. (53), pizza baker Marcello N. (56) and his brother Giuseppe N. (49) from Genk. The Court of Cassation has yet to hear their case, but it is expected that sooner or later they too will be handed over to Italy, where a strict mafia regime awaits them.

Membership 'ndrangheta
The six alleged Belgian members of the Italian mafia clan 'ndrangheta are suspected of money laundering, tax evasion, drug smuggling and fraud. They allegedly imported large shipments of cocaine from Latin America to the port of Antwerp. Stopover was an Italian port. They are also suspected of setting up cocaine laundries and the import and export of hashish and weed.

Eureka
In the Italian and Belgian Eureka investigation, 147 alleged members of the 'ndrangheta were arrested on 3 May 2023 during raids in various European countries. Italy has since asked for the surrender of the six Belgian Limburgers.


Donato O. was the first to be handed over to Italy on Wednesday.

The same scenario threatens for the five other suspects, although Lucio Aquino may still have a catch. Aquino is in fact imprisoned in Hasselt in the extensive Belgian Costa investigation into large-scale international cocaine trade. It focuses on 62 suspects, including Bandidos member Geert F., the elderly former gendarme Willy Van Mechelen and the fugitive Dutch drug lord Bolle Jos.

LOL good old former gendarme Willy Van Mechelen, this guy is involved in trafficking since the 80s first working with the Octopus organization. He used to be a top military cop.

On Monday, just on the day he celebrated his 57th birthday, Marcello Nirta from Genk was surrendered to Italy. The very popular pizza baker is suspected of being part of the 'ndrangheta clan in Limburg. That is why he is now in the Italian cell.
Marcello took a picture with football players, singers and politicians.

The US government has opened the hunt for Antwerp resident Othman El Ballouti (37), who according to the US is an important cocaine smuggler. The US Treasury Department has blacklisted El Ballouti – who resides in Dubai – from the Office Of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The Americans also want to seize all his assets. Othman El Ballouti responds laconically.

Mexican criminal threatens Antwerp resident: 'debts are debts of honor'
July 20, 2023

A video has surfaced in which a representative of a Mexican drug cartel urges Othman El Ballouti from Antwerp to pay debts. That writes the Gazet van Antwerp.

Player
Othman El Ballouti (37) is said to be an important player in the international cocaine trade environment, something he himself has denied.

In the video, a Mexican man addresses 'Señor El Ballouti' directly.

The man identifies himself as someone from the state of Sinaloa (in northwestern Mexico). He says he speaks on behalf of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the fugitive leader of the Sinaloa cartel.

Debts of honor
"I'm sorry Mr Ballouti that I sent people to the door of one of your people to settle a debt," says the Mexican.

'You need to get serious. Debts are debts of honor.'

The man invites Ballouti to show the video to people from Mexico in Europe so that they can tell him who he is, suggesting that he is not to be trifled with.

Belgium’s biggest criminal trial with 129 defendants starts

Belgium’s the largest criminal trial starts today. 129 defendants face charges: 124 actual persons, four companies and a person unknown that the court still has to identify. Everything revolves around drugs: the import of cocaine from South America and cannabis from Morocco.

Drug crimes are centre stage. The implication is Belgium operated as an international hub.

On Tuesday, October 26, 2021, at 5 am police raided 114 premises across the country, aiming to unravel a large drug network. It is an offshoot of the SKY ECC investigation, when investigators managed to hack into the system used by encrypted SKY ECC telephones, often employed by criminals, and managed to read the messages criminals were exchanging and learn their plans for two and a half years.

That investigation resulted in hundreds of files involving thousands of suspects.

A "new criminal world is being revealed in Brussels. It’s territory which until now had managed to remain largely inconspicuous" says Eric Jacobs, a key police officer on that October 26th.

The case revolves on the import of cocaine from South America and cannabis from Morocco. The drugs are imported and extracted in Belgium, repackaged in laboratories and then distributed to the rest of Europe.

What investigators found during their investigations was impressive: no fewer than nine drug laboratories are dismantled - in warehouses, but often also in ordinary terraced houses, barrels and vats full of chemicals or drug waste, tables and bowls full of white powder, notebooks with scribbled notes on how to run drug laboratories, weapons, piles of cash, dozens of cars, gold coins, luxury goods, material to fabricate fake documents, jammers, propulsion engines for divers and so on.

The drugs had been liquefied and injected into ordinary objects, such as clothing. In the laboratory, the drugs are then removed using chemicals - a so-called cocaine wash. Then the cocaine is pressed back into blocks. In other laboratories, pure cocaine was adulterated or mixed with other products to maximise profits.

Conditions in the laboratories were not very safe or professional. At one of the sites, for instance, traces of a fire are clearly visible. Drugs were also scattered everywhere, on tables, in bowls, in cupboards. In a notebook, investigators also discovered scribbles, with chemical processes, but all amateurishly drawn.

What will happen next?

This major investigation has now been completed and the trial promises to be a major challenge for the court system.

The case features no fewer than 129 defendants (124 people, four companies and one person unknown). Belgians, but also Albanians, Colombians, Algerians and French nationals. They do not form one big gang, but a tangle of different gangs. One thing seems to tie them together: their encrypted messages - first via Encrochat, then Sky ECC - landed them in the dock.

Dozens of defendants are in jail across the country. That means they will have to be transferred to court every day.

The accused also include a police inspector from the Brussels South police zone. He allegedly provided information from police databases and thus breached his professional secrecy. Separately, there is also an ongoing investigation into a Brussels lawyer, who is also allegedly involved in this case.

The main focus is on drugs, but the gangs are said to have been involved in other crimes too: extortion, kidnapping, arms trafficking, forgery and money laundering.

The first four defendants are being questioned today; they are said to have had the biggest roles. Most of the defendants' lawyers claim that the investigation was not conducted legally. It is estimated the whole trial will take five months

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2023/12/18/criminal-trial-drugs-belgium-brussels-gangs-sky-ecc/

NOS News
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Today, 08:31
Three officers arrested in major Belgian drug investigation

The police in Belgium have arrested 22 people in a major investigation, including three police officers. In connection with the investigation, 42 homes and businesses were raided yesterday, including in Brussels and Antwerp.

Money, expensive cars and Sky ECC phones were seized in the raids. Criminals use these phones to forward encrypted messages, but investigation services have been able to crack them since 2021.

"The analysis of several Sky ECC telephones revealed the import of cocaine via the port of Antwerp," a source from the investigative services told De Morgen newspaper . "Some key figures are suspected of trying to export cocaine to England using helicopters."

The investigation started in February last year due to settlements in the Brussels drug environment, involving the use of firearms.