BRUSSELS: More than 100 of Europe’s most dangerous criminal networks operate in Belgium, a center for international drug trafficking as well as being the heart of EU politics, officials said on Friday, as street shooting rise in the capital.
Belgian Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt said drug gangs were behind this year’s rise in street shootings in Brussels, with six recorded in March alone. Gangs from the French coastal town of Marseille were seeking to fill a vacuum left in Brussels after arrests of Albanian mafia members, he said.
About 30 people were arrested in a large-scale operation by the country’s federal police in February 2022, Belgian media reported.
With a major port in Antwerp, Belgium is an important drugs hub.
Local media have reported shootings in recent months that have injured passers-by in shopping and residential districts of Brussels that were not previously not associated with such crime.
The federal police declined to comment on street shooting statistics.
Van Tigchelt and Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden, spoke at a news conference as EU police agency Europol said it had identified the 821 most dangerous criminal networks in the bloc, and their 25,000 members, to help cross-border investigations.
Half of the groups were involved in drug trafficking, said Europol head Catherine De Bolle, while 86 percent of them used legal businesses to launder money.
Drug gangs behind rise in shootings in EU capital Brussels, officials say
https://arab.news/y6re4
Drug gangs behind rise in shootings in EU capital Brussels, officials say
- Belgian Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt said drug gangs were behind this year’s rise in street shootings in Brussels, with six recorded in March alone
- About 30 people were arrested in a large-scale operation by the country’s federal police in February 2022
Russian drone attack forces power cuts in Ukraine’s Kryvyi Rih, military says
- Kyiv says the campaign has forced rolling outages and emergency cuts to cities across the country, as repair crews work under fire and Ukraine relies on air defenses and electricity imports to stabilize the grid
KYIV: Russian drones struck infrastructure in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday, forcing emergency power blackouts for more than 45,000 customers and disrupting heat supplies, military administration head Oleksandr Vilkul said.
“Please fill up on water and charge your devices, if you have the chance. It’s going to be difficult,” Vilkul said on the Telegram messaging app.
Water utility pumping stations switched to generators and water remained in the system, but there could be pressure problems.
The full scale of the attack was not immediately known. There was no comment from Russia about the strike.
Russia has repeatedly struck Ukraine’s power plants, substations and transmission lines with missiles and drones, seeking to knock out electricity and heating and hinder industry during the nearly four-year war.
Kyiv says the campaign has forced rolling outages and emergency cuts to cities across the country, as repair crews work under fire and Ukraine relies on air defenses and electricity imports to stabilize the grid.
Kryvyi Rih, a steel-and-mining hub in the Dnipropetrovsk region and President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown, has been hit repeatedly, with strikes killing civilians and damaging homes and industry.
The city sits close enough to southern front lines to be within strike range, while its factories, logistics links and workforce make it economically important and a key rear-area center supporting Ukraine’s war effort.
