The 67-year-old Dutch construction contractor Hendrik P. was arrested on Thursday evening in his hometown of Maaseik in an investigation into large-scale drug and cigarette trade.
In the same investigation by the Belgian and Dutch police, thirteen suspects were arrested in Belgium on Wednesday morning. In the Netherlands, eight suspects were arrested in fifteen raids. A total of 29 house searches were carried out, fourteen of which were in Belgium.
Police and justice see Hendrik P. as the key figure in the drug trade and the illegal production of cigarettes. He is suspected of participating in a criminal organization that focused on cigarette production, cannabis cultivation and two drug labs.
In Maasmechelen, 'Lieutenant' Nico B. of the Aquino clan was arrested. He was released in June 2019 with an ankle bracelet after serving seven years in prison for international cocaine shipments.
The criminal organization around the Aquino brothers, a Calabrian family from Maasmechelen, is said to have imported at least 2.4 tons of cocaine from South America during at least fifteen years. The two brothers Raf Aquino and Mario Aquino were sentenced to ten and seven years in prison before the Antwerp Court of Appeal in 2017.