2023-10-12 04:46:00
Two criminals convicted in one of the biggest drug trafficking cases Belgium has ever seen are still holed up in Turkey, where they paid to obtain nationality. Since then, Turkey has refused to extradite them.
Extradition was requested from Turkey on April 25 and 26. “Turkey is a member state of the Council of Europe and is bound by the European Convention on Extradition of December 13, 1957. But it was suddenly reported to us that the two suspects also had Turkish nationality,” explains the Minister of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne, in the Justice Committee.
“According to our information, they had exclusively Albanian or Bosnian nationality. We protested once morest this way of proceeding. After intensive contacts at diplomatic, police and judicial level the embassy in Ankara confirmed that the suddenly acquired Turkish nationality had once more been withdrawn,” he continues.
But since then, the situation has remained as it is and the two criminals still live under the Turkish sun. According to the minister, these are intermediaries in the context of vast drug trafficking. One of those involved is the owner of an Asian restaurant in Wilrijk who was the target of an attack in March. According to police, there is a link between this attack and the disappearance of a shipment of cocaine.
An amount of 500,000 dollars to obtain nationality
Since January 2022, foreigners who invest $500,000 (449,000 euros) or buy property in the country can obtain Turkish nationality. This also applies to people who create 50 jobs or who invest $500,000 in government bonds for three years.
Belgium and the Emirates sign a police cooperation protocol in Dubai
Many criminals take advantage of this type of situation to escape Belgian justice. This is why an extradition treaty was signed in 2021 with the United Arab Emirates but despite this, drug traffickers still continue to live peacefully without being worried. This is the case of Nordin El Hajjoui, one of the Antwerp drug lords, whose extradition requests from Dubai have been repeatedly rejected.
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