Belgium: Minister of Justice under high protection

Vincent van Quickenborne lived a week in secure residence after being warned of an imminent risk of removal by the drug mafia.

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In the morning, he greeted the special forces of the federal police which ensure his security; In the afternoon, he stood in front of the deputies who, all left, applauded him while Eliane Tillieux, president of the Assembly, showed her her support and assured her of the solidarity of the House of Representatives . Thursday, September 29, Vincent Van Quickenborne, the Belgian Minister of Justice, appeared in public for the first time since the threat of kidnapping was known about him. After the session, he joined a secure residence where he had lived for several days with his wife and their two children, aged 3 and 6 years old. The authorities do not confirm the information, but he would have left this “Safe House” before the weekend, while remaining under very high protection.

For the minister and the country’s judicial authorities, there is no doubt: the Dutch drug mafia is well behind this removal project. Four men are under the locks in the Netherlands, and an Amsterdam court will have to rule, within sixty days, on the extradition request made by Belgium.

methods of narcoterrois

On the evening of September 22, a police patrol checked a car with Dutch plates in Kortrijk, the city where Van Quickenborne lives and in which he has been mayor since 2013. The police are not random: the services security have been alerted as to a possible abduction. The three occupants of the vehicle are known to the Dutch justice – one of them has already been sentenced for an attempted kidnapping – but not from the Belgian police, who lets them leave. Their identity was noted, however, and they will be apprehended in the Netherlands the following night. Meanwhile, Belgian police have, in fact, found in a second car, has been hastily abandoned 100 meters from the minister’s home, in front of a garage door, heavy weapons, restraints and what, no doubt, fire The car after removal. An accomplice of the trio will be arrested on September 25, in the Netherlands as well.

This is a phone call from Frédéric Van Leeuw, the federal prosecutor, in charge of great crime and terrorism, who alerted the Minister of Justice, returned that day from the General Assembly of the UN, in New York. The high magistrate announces “a very bad news”. “People do not always take threats seriously, but in this case, I had no problem convincing my interlocutor,” said Van Leeuw.

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/Media reports.