Fugitive Drug Lords Face 53-Year Sentence: Antwerp’s Cocaine Kings Hunted Globally

The Antwerp court has handed down heavy prison sentences to Omar Govers alias "Patje Haemers", and his accomplice Mounir El Bartali alias "Gino". The former was sentenced to 10 years in prison, while the latter was sentenced to 12 years in prison. They are behind the introduction in 2020 of three major cocaine shipments - each time representing hundreds of kilos (850 kilograms of cocaine and 300 kilos) - in the port of Antwerp using the so-called "switch" method. This involves transferring drugs from South American containers to European containers in order to bypass controls.

These two drug traffickers have been on the run for years in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates and Tangier, Morocco. The court also ordered the confiscation of 6 million euros in criminal profits. After the new conviction, Govers and El Bartali have accumulated 53 and 49 years of prison sentences respectively. They are both the subject of a new arrest warrant.

Naoufel A., a refrigeration technician at the port company Medrepair, a key figure in an operation that failed and allowed customs to seize a large shipment (191 kilos out of a total of 766 kilos of cocaine in a container), was given a light sentence: 5 years in prison. The co-accused Illias El H. was sentenced to 6 years in prison. The other defendants were sentenced to up to 4 years.