On December 14, 2024, when he was again back in the kingdom, customs officers and police awaited him at Zaventem airport. Intercepted, he spontaneously declared that he was carrying cocaine, the material being attached to him with a kind of cord. In total, there was for just over 2.1 kg of cocaine.
Nine round trips in a few months
He started by saying that it was the very first time. But the investigators confronted it with the elements they had already collected, and the forties understood that it was useless to lock themselves in the lie. He confessed to having produced, in a few months, nine trips to bring cocaine back to Belgium. According to the police, it would be rather ten …
Each time, the Walloon Brabançon hid 2 kg of cocaine on it. Once in Brussels, he quickly saw those to whom he had to hand over the drug, near the Midi station. Sometimes the appointment was set in the toilet and in exchange for cocaine, he received $ 10,000 initially.
Over time, the sponsors added a small sum in Mexican pesos, the equivalent of an additional $ 1,000. According to the suspect, the idea was undoubtedly to make sure that he returns well to Mexico to spend them, and therefore again participates in traffic.
Before the Correctional Court where he was prosecuted this week, the defendant was to explain prevention of imports and detention of narcotics within the framework of an association, but also for money laundering. In his computer, the police found a code corresponding to a cryptocurrency account. The man had “invested” just over 181,000 euros in these practically intraçable currencies.
The investigators also discovered notes in which anecdotes were recorded by the accused during his journeys between Mexico and Belgium with cocaine hidden on him. We notably read his fear of being checked and arrested.
Before the court, the interested party said he had recorded all of this in the intention of writing a book. According to the investigation, none of his relatives was aware of the traffic to which he engaged.
Three years in prison and a huge fine required by the public prosecutor
The president, at the hearing, asked him if he was aware of the consequences of the sale of cocaine, not only for consumers but also for the insecurity that this generates, notably referring to the regular shootings in recent months in Brussels.
The defendant replied that he had not realized it before meeting several months in prison, and to achieve all of this.
The public prosecutor has requested three years’ imprisonment, a huge fine as well as the confiscation of more than 100,000 euros.
The defense lawyer, for his part, pleaded the granting of a stay, his client being now aware of the gravity of the facts … and the luck he had to be intercepted in Belgium, and not in Mexico where the sanctions are much heavier …
Judgment on August 20.
