Belgian federal police have added Dutch brothers Samir and Youssef Masoudi to the most wanted lists in Belgium and across Europe after they were convicted of a violent robbery targeting an elderly couple in Bocholt in Limburg.
The announcement was made on Thursday as part of a new Europol campaign launched at the request of the Antwerp public prosecutor general’s office.
The campaign focuses on fugitives suspected or convicted of serious crimes against minors or elderly people. Europol published a new EU Most Wanted list on Thursday featuring 19 internationally wanted criminals, including the Masoudi brothers.
In February 2025, the Antwerp Court of Appeal sentenced both men to eight years in prison, with immediate arrest, for a violent robbery carried out in Bocholt on 13 February 2017.
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The brothers were not present at their trial and remain actively wanted by police. Federal police said the attack in Bocholt was particularly brutal. The elderly victims were gagged, tied up and threatened during the robbery.
The man was severely assaulted and stabbed in the leg. He died a few months after the attack. Despite the violence, the attackers took only €200 and a small amount of jewellery.
By adding Samir and Youssef Masoudi to Belgium’s Most Wanted and Europe’s Most Wanted lists, the federal police’s Fugitive Active Search Team, known as FAST, hopes to gather further information on their whereabouts.
