A Brussels criminal court will try 128 individuals who are accused of working for an international drug trafficking ring, which was discovered by Belgian police during their Sky ECC operation in March 2021.
The suspects' arrests in October 2021 were among the 3,000 made after the criminal cryptophone network Sky ECC was decrypted by police in Belgium's biggest-ever judicial and police action. The police operation also led police to uncover various drug rings.
All 128 suspects are accused of ensuring the drug ring's import of cocaine from South America via containers or private jets. They were also charged with extracting the drug and repackaging it in Belgian laboratories before smuggling it into other European countries.
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The evidence that led to their prosecution was discovered during a vast search of 114 homes in Belgium which in turn revealed the existence of six laboratories. Alongside the drugs, police also uncovered a dozen firearms, 57 vehicles, 300 cubic metres of tobacco packages and €1 million in cash.
Moreover, investigators discovered the drug traffickers were also guilty of money laundering, having hidden their money in various tax havens.
They are now set to stand trial, with 50 of the 128 suspects currently being held in preventive detention. The date of the trial is not yet known.
