Antwerp drug boss Othman E.B. (37) was sentenced to 20 years in prison and a €400,000 fine on Friday. The correctional court in Antwerp found it proven that he ordered a transport of 11 tonnes of cocaine intercepted in the Antwerp port in April 2021.
E.B. was recently arrested in Dubai at the request of Belgium. 16 of E.B.'s companions, including his two brothers and his right-hand man Youssef B.A., were given prison sentences of up to 10 years and fines of up to €160,000. The judges declared criminal assets of about €11 million forfeited and ordered the immediate arrest of Othman E.B., his brothers and Youssef B.A.
Customs inspected a container at quay 869 in the Port of Antwerp on 2 April 2021. Hidden in a deck cargo of blue leather were 10,043 packages, amounting to more than 11 tonnes of cocaine – a wholesale value of more than €275 million. At the time, it was the second-largest seizure ever made in Belgium.
Intercepted communications from the cracked encrypted message service Sky ECC led to Othman E.B., who had ordered the transport and had the contacts in South America. He was assisted in this by his right-hand man Youssef B.A. Brother Younes E.B. and brother-in-law Mohamed T. arranged everything on the European side and organised the extraction.
Othman E.B. is one of Belgium's biggest ‘drug lords’ who has defected to Dubai, according to the prosecution. He is also an uncle of Firdaous, the 11-year-old girl who died in an attack against her home in Merksem in early 2023.
In September, E.B. was already sentenced to seven years in prison for importing 840 kilos of cocaine through the Antwerp port. Now, another 20 years are added to that. Earlier this month, it became known that he was arrested in Dubai at the request of Belgian authorities. Belgium has been asking for his extradition for some time.
