Belgian Drug Lord Extradited from Dubai to Face Trafficking Charges

Born on October 8, 1987 in Antwerp, Nordin El Hajjioui grew up in the Antwerp neighborhood "Den Dam", the triangle between the Sportpaleis, Park Spoor Noord, and the port. He got involved in drug trafficking at a very young age. He sold cocaine as a small-time local dealer. He was sentenced to community service and suspended prison sentences. This conviction did not dampen his determination to succeed in the underworld. He crossed paths with Samir Bouyakhrichan, better known as "Scarface". The latter took him under his wing. He thus became his apprentice. The network of "Dikke Nordin van den Dam" would be of great use: large shipments of cocaine transit through the port of Antwerp, recalls HLN.

Gradually, the one nicknamed Dikke Nordin climbed the ranks. After the assassination in 2014 of "Scarface" on a terrace in Marbella, he took over with the deceased’s brother, "Karim Taxi". He also collaborated with the bodybuilder "Frank De Tank" to smuggle cocaine from containers in the port of Antwerp. This collaboration was short-lived due to a 400,000 euro advance for a cocaine shipment. The shipment disappeared, but the bodybuilder refused to return the advance. Relations between the two men deteriorated to the point that they tried to eliminate each other. The "Frank De Tank" gang was dismantled by the police in mid-2017, but Dikke Nordin, who had by then become one of the country’s most important drug traffickers, had time to flee to Dubai.

From the United Arab Emirates, Nordin controlled the drug trafficking in Antwerp. But the reception in April 2019 by the Antwerp emergency center of a phone call made by Brigitte S., allowed investigators to dismantle his network in Antwerp. The 20-year-old woman was the girlfriend of Moufdi R., a known drug trafficker, himself linked to Memet T., whom the police considered to be "Dikke Nordin’s" right-hand man. She had accidentally shot herself in the foot. During 36 searches in Antwerp and Limburg, 10 members of the Belgo-Moroccan’s network were arrested. Meanwhile, Nordin was basking in Dubai in a luxurious villa worth 3 million euros in the residential district of Al Hebiah. His two children were enrolled there under a false name.

A few months later, Dikke Nordin was arrested in Dubai in 2020 before being released. In December 2021, an extradition treaty had been signed between Belgium and the United Arab Emirates. 2023: new arrest. This time, the Belgo-Moroccan did not manage to get out of it. He will be detained. In early March, the Dubai Court of Cassation authorized his extradition to Belgium. On March 29, he arrived in Antwerp on a military plane that landed at the Melsbroek air base. His health is said to have taken a hit: he would be moving in a wheelchair. His first appearance before the Belgian justice is scheduled for May 16. Suspect in several major ongoing drug trafficking trials in Antwerp and in a drug case being investigated by the Limburg court, the 36-year-old man faces a prison sentence of 20 to 25 years, according to HLN.