Seven individuals have been arrested following 15 raids conducted over the past week as part of a large-scale investigation into drug trafficking, the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office announced on Monday.
A total of 11 people were detained, including three who were already incarcerated at the time. The operations led to the seizure of over €750,000 in cash, luxury cars, high-end goods such as clothing and furniture, mobile phones, and GPS trackers often used to locate illegal shipments.
These raids were conducted in several locations including Antwerp, Brasschaat, Forest, Zwijndrecht, Bertem, Ostend, Boom, Temse, Merksem, Hoogstraten, Sint-Niklaas, and Beveren.
According to investigators, the criminal network allegedly employed cooling specialists to extract drugs from refrigerated containers and used straddle carriers to move these containers. This “switch method” involves transferring merchandise into less suspicious containers.
These extractions are reported to have taken place between December 2024 and June 2025.
