2023-10-04 11:02:00
A major trial is being 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 with the use of an encrypted communications network which has hit the headlines in recent years, SKY ECC.
Several plantations were dismantled near Antwerp, Bastogne and closer to home in Frameries and Boussu. Energy distribution companies have formed civil parties to prevent energy theft. The equivalent of nearly 300,000 euros in energy was diverted from two houses in Antwerp, to the detriment of a distributor in the north of the country. Ores is seeking damages for the theft of energy from plantations in Wallonia. Here too, we are talking regarding several thousand euros.
Phones encrypted with SKY ECC
Admir, 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.
Céline Carette, deputy king’s prosecutor, summarized the investigation in her indictment and declared that no jurisdiction in the country had declared the inadmissibility of prosecutions in the context of the SKY ECC trials. The legitimacy of the investigation will be questioned by defense lawyers, and in particular by Me Jean-Philippe Mainz, during the hearing this followingnoon. Wednesday morning, the criminal lawyer asked the representative of the prosecution where he got certain data on telephone operations.
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.
Wednesday morning, Céline Carette requested penalties once morest the defendants, including a five-year prison sentence and a fine of 2,000 euros once morest Admir.
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