Belgian Drug Kingpin Arrested in Dubai After International Manhunt

Othman El Ballouti is no longer free to move. Thanks to the information obtained during the decryption of Sky ECC communications, which exposed global drug networks and implicated dozens of traffickers based in Antwerp, this notorious figure of the drug trade has been arrested in Dubai, reports Het Laatste Nieuws. Convicted in absentia to seven years in prison for trafficking 840 kg of cocaine, the one nicknamed "El Patron" is also linked to a cargo of 11 tons seized in 2021.

Othman, originally from Borgerhout, Antwerp, had settled in Dubai, where he would be expanding his empire. According to him, he would have a real estate portfolio of 7.5 million euros in Dubai from a luxury watch company. Investigators do not believe it. El Ballouti is also the uncle of Firdaous, the 11-year-old girl killed by gunfire in Merksem in February 2023. Tried for drug offenses, El Patron’s two brothers risk 20-year prison sentences.

Belgium now expects the extradition of the one who also holds Moroccan nationality. In 2021, it had signed a treaty with the United Arab Emirates. They have already extradited several drug traffickers to Belgium, including another Antwerp baron, Nordin El Hajjioui, at the beginning of the year.