Just under a year after he was taken into custody at the request of Belgian judicial authorities, Belgian drug lord Omar Govers has been released by Dubai authorities.
It is currently unknown if Govers, who faces over five decades behind bars, will be extradited to Belgium to serve the remainder of his sentence. His lawyer declined to comment to the Flemish newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen about the matter.
His criminal record includes a 2019 conviction by the Antwerp Court of Appeal for leading a drug gang that sold cocaine under the alias ‘Patje Haemers’.
Further convictions, including cases involving a prison fight and cocaine imports linked to stolen PIN codes, have brought his total sentence to 51 years and nine months.
Govers is also involved in a pending case, where if convicted, he faces an additional 12 years for arranging for two brothers from Hoboken to transport kilograms of cocaine and millions of euros.
In total, Belgian courts have confiscated over €411 million of assets tied to Govers.
For years, Belgian law enforcement had considered Govers a high-priority target, so his detention last year was considered a significant breakthrough for authorities.
His release now has officials worried about whether he will face justice anytime in the near future.
