Despite being jailed since 2022, Imad B., known as 'Mara', continued to direct the activities of a criminal organisation from his prison cell, according the Office of the Public Prosecutor (OPP) in Brussels.
In court submissions made on Thursday by OPP-Brussels in the trial of a gang operating from Anderlecht's Peterbos district, prosecutors said he did everything possible to stay in contact with the outside world and maintain control over the organisation’s operations.
They alleged he was fixated on obtaining a mobile phone in prison and became angry when he could not get one.
For a period, the prosecution said, 'Mara' passed on messages through his partner, Camelia B. When he had access to a phone, he is said to have used Snapchat, Signal and WhatsApp to communicate.
Several conversations were recovered after investigators seized the phones of suspects.
Imad B. was also wiretapped for several months, both on the phone in his cell and on the phones of other suspects.
Investigators also installed microphones inside his cell, the court heard. According to the prosecution, the exchanges they intercepted were often coded and related not only to drug trafficking but also to acts of violence.
The prosecution said Imad B. had told a fellow inmate that “Peterbos was still running,” that he had several drug dealing points there, and that he had driven out several rival gangs.
Intercepted conversations also referred to a feud with a gang from Anderlecht’s Aumale district, as well as a mistaken-identity killing carried out in Wayez Street, Anderlecht, on 14 September 2023.
