In Belgium, a plan to kidnap the Minister of Justice was foiled
The Belgian Minister of Justice, Vincent Van Quickenborne (Flemish Liberal), was placed under close surveillance and three suspects were arrested in the Netherlands, The Hague and Leidschendam, on the night of Friday September 23 to Saturday 24. Various sources indicated on Saturday that a plan to kidnap the minister had been foiled. The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office did not confirm this information but specified that the first elements of the investigation sent to an examining magistrate in West Flanders confirmed that a “serious threat” had weighed on Mr. Van Quickenborne.
The police had seen, Thursday evening, a vehicle with Dutch number plates near the villa occupied by the minister and his family, in the residential suburbs of the city of Kortrijk, of which Mr. Van Quickenborne is burgomaster (mayor).
The occupants managed to escape before they could be checked, but the next day the police found them, according to the daily Het Laatste Nieuws, “at least one heavy weapon”, duct tape and gasoline in another car also registered in the Netherlands. This vehicle had been abandoned by the fugitives and badly parked in front of a house, a hundred meters from the minister’s home.
Steady increase in cocaine trafficking
Mr. Van Quickenborne was returning from New York on Thursday. The three men arrested in the Netherlands, aged 20, 29 and 48, are not the organizers, but the executors of a kidnapping project developed by individuals linked to drug trafficking. The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office has requested their extradition.
If this track is confirmed, the event would mark an escalation in violent incidents, often involving Dutch criminal groups, which have been taking place for several weeks in Antwerp. The city’s port sees a steady increase in cocaine trafficking, which leads to covetousness between rival gangs. They engage in increasingly violent settling of scores. A new incident took place in Merksem, a district of the city, on the night of Thursday to Friday: an explosion destroyed the hall of an apartment building.
“It must be clear: we will not be intimidated,” reacted on Saturday, on Twitter, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo when he learned of the threat aimed at his colleague. Mr. Van Quickenborne himself invited on Facebook to “not to worry”. “I am safe and in good hands. » He added: “The people behind this will get the opposite of what they envision. This confirms my conviction that we must continue to fight. »
You have 15.09% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.