2023-10-19 14:47:00
It is therefore possible that this van was the one that was intercepted by the Antwerp police a few moments later. It was a vehicle registered in the Netherlands and the seven occupants were aged between 22 and 35. Three small arms were also found in the vehicle.
The seven men were arrested and questioned. The prosecution suspects them of having wanted to try to recover their load of cocaine seized by customs. The investigating judge on Thursday placed the seven individuals under arrest warrant for suspicion of (attempted) violent robbery with aggravating circumstances, violation of the weapons law and membership in a criminal organization.
Antwerp police intercept van with heavily armed men: “We carried out a high-risk action”
The Antwerp investigating judge placed the seven occupants of a van which had been stopped on the IJzerlaan on Tuesday evening under arrest warrant, the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office said on Thursday. The seven men, armed when they were arrested, are notably suspected of attempted robbery with violence. According to one of the leads followed by investigators, the suspects intended to try to recover a large shipment of cocaine seized by customs.
According to the prosecution, the facts are probably linked to a load of around 10 tonnes of cocaine discovered by customs in a container at the port of Antwerp. The drugs were hidden in a shipment of soy flour.
“For practical reasons, the container was transported to a hangar in Kalmthout, where the packets of cocaine were extracted from the soya flour cargo,” the prosecution said. “The drugs were then moved under police escort and temporarily stored in a location awaiting destruction. Shortly followingwards, armed men appeared in front of the Kalmthout hangar and threatened a man present there. The attackers finally took escape in a van.
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