2023-10-07 08:18:00
The drug sector also sometimes suffers from staff shortages. In Antwerp, the “pink bag gang” was so desperate that it attracted new couriers with… permanent contracts, at 1,200 euros per four-day week. With, as “extralegal benefits”: good training, a rental car and a lawyer in the event of arrest, as reported by HLN.
In fact, this gang used pink bags “which attract less attention from the police”. The leaders Jaouad M. (24 years old), known as “Noa”, and Azedinne R. (20 years old), known as “Liam”, acted in a very professional manner. They even surveyed their customers on the quality of the cocaine and ran promotions like “6+2 free”.
The couriers were well schooled: “Let your girlfriend drive, then the police will be less likely to check.”
Jaouad M. was arrested in the middle of last year while handing over a pink kit to an underage drug courier in Merksem. Contents: 40 doses of cocaine. A search of the house uncovered a further 772 grams of cocaine, plus 18,000 euros, a thousand empty bags and a wardrobe full of luxury clothes.
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The two men were tried this Thursday, along with ten couriers. According to the prosecutor, it was a well-managed organization: a courier received 50 to 100 doses of cocaine every day, even if it meant returning to the “fold” in the event of a stock shortage.
Business was so good that it was necessary to attract people with permanent contracts. Despite this, couriers have complained regarding the workload. For example, one of them delivered at night in the Ardennes and had to get back on the road at 10 a.m. to serve customers in Brasschaat. Another courier and his girlfriend were considering moving to be closer to customers in Antwerp and Antwerp North. Another courier stopped his university studies because they might not be combined with his “student job”.
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Of the two leaders, it was Jaouad M. who was responsible for managing the couriers. He always had them come to an address located 66 meters from his parental home. Azedinne R. denied his role. The mobile number used by the couriers was not his, his lawyer is calling for acquittal. Jaouad M., admitted to having belonged to an organization but denies having exercised a management role. He only cooperated as a courier, according to his lawyer.
The prosecutor requested five years in prison for M. and four years for R. The couriers risk sentences of between 20 and 30 months in prison. One of the defendants, who had worked for Abdenor R. – brother of Azedinne, who allegedly handed over his client list following his arrest, was sentenced to three years in prison.
The prosecutor also requested the confiscation of 480,000 euros in drug-related profits allegedly made by the gang’s leaders.
Antwerp, more than ever a hub for cocaine trafficking in Europe
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