Belgian Crime Family Linked to International Drug Trafficking

The Sekkaki family is originally from northern Morocco. Mohamed Sekkaki, born in Douar Aghlid Imzouren, a small village south of Al Hoceima, moved with his wife Faiza to Belgium. The couple settled in Mechelen, in a modest residence across from the Racing Mechelen football stadium. Mohamed and Faiza had nine children: five sons and four daughters. It is the sons who have made the family famous for their criminal acts, reports Nieuwsblad.be.

The most famous is Ashraf Sekkaki, now 41 years old. From his adolescence, the second son of the family was already one of the most feared criminals in Mechelen. At the age of 16, he had committed no less than 80 robberies, burglaries and thefts. Arrested in 1999 for robbing a post office, he was sentenced to ten years in prison. Later, Ashraf became the king of escapes. On September 3, 2003, he managed to escape from the Turnhout prison with a ladder. On July 23, 2009, he escaped from the Bruges prison by helicopter with two other inmates. He will be arrested two weeks later in Morocco where he is still in detention. In 2010, he tried to escape again by hiding in a suitcase. Without success.

In January 2024, the Belgian justice system sentenced Ashraf Sekkaki to an additional four years in prison for having directed a criminal network in Belgium from his prison cell in Morocco. His younger brother, Oualid Sekkaki, 31, is no less known. He was arrested at the age of 19 for burglary with violence. In 2015, he was arrested in possession of 25,000 ecstasy pills, worth 125,000 euros. Oualid is also known to the justice system for having shot a man, injuring him in the leg. In 2019, following in Ashraf’s footsteps, he escaped from the Turnhout prison by climbing the walls with four other inmates. In 2022, he was arrested and deported to Morocco.

The third Sekkaki brother, Nasr-Eddine, 33, is also a dangerous criminal. "He doesn’t have a criminal record, but a book of crimes," joked a judge. His name has been mentioned in several criminal cases, including the helicopter escape of his brother Ashraf and the attempted kidnapping of a teenager. He is currently suspected of money laundering from drug trafficking.