2023-10-04 16:02:00
A major trial was held on Wednesday before the 6th chamber of the Hainaut criminal court, Mons division. Around twenty people are accused of multiple offenses linked to major drug trafficking. These are Albanian nationals who live in the Antwerp region and who have grown hundreds of cannabis plants in houses in Boussu and Frameries in particular.
After the indictment of the public prosecutor, who requested sentences of several years in prison once morest the defendants, it was the defense who took the floor. Among the lawyers, Me Jean-Philippe Mainz criticizes the investigation and in particular the use of encrypted telephones, which he believes does not comply with the law. He has filed a judgment from the European Court which, he says, reduces the Belgian case law handed down so far to smithereens.
Cracked by the police, the Sky and Encrochat platforms revealed in 2021 an international drug trafficking network organized between South America and Europe. If a big trial takes place in Brussels, it is a smaller case which is currently being litigated in Mons.
Liberticide criminal policy
The lawyer questions the legality of the procedure. He specifies that the server of the Canadian company SKY ECC is located in Roubaix, France. “Where is the joint European investigation? ” asks the lawyer. He specifies that it exists for the Brussels megatrial, but not for that of Mons.
He adds: “We used an inaccurate argument to obtain an unfair investigation with the aim of massively collecting personal data. All the checks made are unacceptable. It is a simulacrum carried out within the framework of a liberticidal criminal policy”. The criminal lawyer delivered around a hundred pages of conclusions on the admissibility of the procedure.
Me Mainz’s client, an Albanian who lives in Antwerp, is considered by the prosecution to be the leader of an association active in several cannabis plantations discovered in the kingdom, sale of cannabis and cocaine, laundering and embezzlement of energy. He disputes all the prejudices. Only a few of the defendants, generally of Albanian nationality, confess to having played the role of gardener on these plantations.
Overload in a cabin
On December 7, 2020, the Ores company noticed an overload in a cabin located on rue Grande in Hornu, a sign that a home might house a cannabis crop. A thermal analysis is carried out on a suspicious house and, indeed, there is a strong release of heat. The house is rented by a man who gave a false identity.
From December 29, the house was placed under observation. A car is spotted, it has already been checked in Antwerp. This car made seventeen round trips between Antwerp and Mons, between December 1, 2020 and January 5, 2021.
On January 11, 2021, this car was seen in front of a house located rue du Chêne in Noirchain. Later, other houses in the Frameris village were suspected of housing cannabis crops, notably on rue de Pâturages and on the Roman road in Noirchain.
On January 18, 2022, searches were carried out in these different homes. On rue Grande in Hornu, we find remains of cultivation and a damaged electric meter. On rue de Pâturages in Noirchain, the police found 580 plants in three cultivation rooms. There too, the electric meter was damaged. Several people were arrested on site. Plants were found in other homes.
Searches and arrests
The suspects are people of Albanian nationality who live in Antwerp, some of whom have family ties, which strengthens trust between them. Their homes were searched and weapons and documents concerning the rental of houses in Borinage were found.
Several individuals were placed under arrest warrant and some were released during the procedure. The phones were analyzed. The messages and photos leave no doubt regarding the guilt of the defendants, according to the public prosecutor. The genetic expertise carried out on the objects found in the houses strengthens the conviction of the prosecution.
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