It wasn't specifically the Ndrangheta. The Ndrangheta were definitely already active in the Brussels region in the late 70's/early 80's but they weren't as huge as they're now. Back then the direct Ndrangheta operations in Belgium were mostly active in tobacco smuggling; which then was an area most criminals didn't consider yet. When it comes to heroin in those days, at least in Brussels, the Ndrangheta wasn't a major player.

The biggest distributors of heroin in the early 80's in Brussels were, believe it or not, French. The biggest fish got his heroin - which was then more common than cocaine - from the Chinese (the Ah Kong Triad - for which his group first travelled to Amsterdam and later on most of the business was conducted in Bangkok), his cocaine from the Italians (a member of his group was caught in Rome while smuggling cocaine, presumably from the Ndrangheta), his hashish from the local Dutch underworld ('penoze') in Amsterdam and his weapons from the Corsicans and the Lebanese. He was also active in the stolen arts business with the Corsicans.