A 38-year-old Belgian, Kristof D., has been arrested in the Philippines as part of a Belgian investigation into drug trafficking and the torture of a 17-year-old teenager.
In April 2022, the teenager was allegedly tortured by a gang of drug traffickers in the garage of a farm in Maldegem, East Flanders.
The victim, who was acting as a courier for the gang, was said to have informed a rival gang about a cocaine deal worth €15 million. The traffickers allegedly cut off the young man’s ear and severed the tendons in his hand.
In November of the same year, four people were arrested after CCTV cameras were analysed in the vicinity of the hospital where the victim had been dropped off. Kristof D. appeared to be in the sights of the investigators and was considered to be the mastermind. An international wanted person notice was issued.
On 17 October, he was intercepted in the Philippines, in a hotel in the City of Parañaque. "He claimed to work as a model and barman, but in reality was part of a criminal organisation involved in drug trafficking," wrote the Philippine Immigration Office.
The thirty-year-old remains in prison in the Philippines pending his surrender to Belgium. The Belgian arrest warrant mentions the torture of minors, participation in a criminal organisation and drug-related offences.
