Belgian Drug Lords Face Extradition from Dubai as UAE Cooperation Grows

It’s just a matter of time before Belgium obtains the extradition of the Belgian-Moroccan drug traffickers living in Dubai. On Saturday, the federal prosecutor’s office announced the extradition from the United Arab Emirates of Franc Gergely, an Albanian national born in 1992, as part of an investigation into a murder committed in Brussels in the drug milieu in 2020, reports Belga. The very first extradition organized between the United Arab Emirates and Belgium, which pleased Belgian Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt. "The fairy tale is over," he will say.

Belgium now expects the extradition of about twenty other criminals currently living in the United Arab Emirates. Most of them are drug traffickers. Among them, Nordin El Hajjioui alias "Dikke Nordin", a Belgian-Moroccan known for his talent as an organizer during actions in the port of Antwerp. Main suspect in several cases of international drug trafficking, he has been incarcerated in Dubai since August at the request of the Antwerp court. A Dubai court had meanwhile rejected three extradition requests for the thirty-year-old to Belgium.

Belgium has also requested the extradition of the brothers Othman El Ballouti, 37, and Younes E.B., whose 11-year-old niece Firdaous was killed by a bullet in Merksem in February 2023. Targeted by a money laundering investigation, Othman from Borgerhout has settled in Dubai, where he would be expanding his empire. He is accused of having financed a controversial Islamic primary school in Mechelen. He has not been sentenced to any prison term. He would own four properties in Dubai worth half a million euros each in the exclusive Miras Town complex, in the Reem suburb. He would also own an apartment in the prestigious Residence Sky View hotel.

By cracking Sky ECC, the federal police managed to obtain evidence to prosecute him. The drug trafficker is also in the sights of the American DEA, which has opened an investigation. For its part, the US government has placed the Belgian-Moroccan on OFAC’s blacklist, alongside his right-hand man Youssef "Benz" Ben Azza and his younger brother Younes El Ballouti. The latter was convicted a few years ago. Kidnapped by French gangsters in 2016, he managed to escape from the Parisian apartment where he was being held. After living for a long time in Dubai, he is now in Morocco.