The police arrested nine new suspects on Monday who were allegedly involved in an attempt to rob a customs warehouse in Antwerp. They wanted to recover 10 tons of seized cocaine. These would be members of a second command.
The foiled robbery of the customs warehouse in Antwerp dates back to October 17 last year. In the weeks before, customs had seized dozens of tons of cocaine. That October 17, a huge shipment of cocaine weighing no less than ten tons was found among soy meal from Sierra Leone. A drug shipment that was immediately linked to ‘Bolle Jos’ Leijdekkers, the most wanted criminal in the Netherlands. There was probably a tracker among the cocaine, through which the owners saw that their drugs were taken to a warehouse in Kalmthout and that the load then moved towards Antwerp.
An armed commando was sent after the customs transport, fortunately the customs officers noticed that they were being followed and called for help from the Antwerp police zone. Rapid response teams jammed the van with gangsters on Noorderlaan in Antwerp. Seven Dutch people between the ages of 22 and 35 were arrested. There were three firearms in their car.
A white van with Belgian license plates was also spotted that evening in the vicinity of the warehouse in Kalmthout, but it was able to escape. The federal judicial police started an investigation into that vehicle. “This showed that it was a rental vehicle, the tenants and possible other parties involved could be identified,” says Kristof Aerts of the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office. Eleven house searches followed on Monday in Aalst, Antwerp, Berchem, Bertem, Evere, Kampenhout, Kortenberg, Machelen and Zaventem. Nine men aged between 23 and 34 were arrested. Five of them were brought before the investigating judge.
“Four men have been arrested for theft with violence with aggravating circumstances, attempted theft with violence with aggravating circumstances, violations of the Weapons Act, membership of a criminal organization and unlawful deprivation of liberty,” says Aerts.
The four men aged 23, 25, 25 and 29 will appear before the council chamber on Friday.