Just under 10 young men in their twenties, most of whom are from Brussels, appeared before the Namur Criminal Court last week over their alleged involvement in a series of shootings and attempted murders carried out last year across Belgium.
The suspects are accused of criminal conspiracy and several attempted murders in the Namur and Brussels regions, as well as in Flanders. Authorities believe they were members of a heavily armed commando unit, which allegedly worked on behalf of drug-trafficking organisations.
The men have been accused of a shooting in mid April of last year in Saint-Servais, where over twenty 9mm bullets were sprayed into a garage door, Belga News Agency reports.
The group then allegedly returned to Brussels later that day, where they attempted to target one of three residents known as the “sheriffs” of Saint-Antoine Square in the municipality of Forest, who had searched for Mohamed-Amine Dardour in 2021 at the request of police.
Dardour was convicted of the murder of Sofiane Benali, who was shot two blocks from the scene of another shooting on Rue Berthelot in Forest on that April night. However, Dardour is not implicated in the current case.
It is believed that the alleged hit squad accidentally went to the wrong address and sprayed 15 bullets into the home of an unsuspecting family whose surname differed from the intended target by only one letter. Investigators also believe the group may have carried out several attacks on behalf of criminal organisations involved in the drug trade.
Last October, police conducted several searches in the Brussels-Capital Region and discovered Sten submachine guns, an AK-47-type assault rifle and a .38 Special revolver, along with ammunition, cash, jewelry and narcotics. Several vehicles that were allegedly used in the attacks were also seized.
No trial date has been set.
