Federal prosecutors have announced the extradition of Albanian national Franc G. from the United Arab Emirates on charges linked to a drug-related murder in Brussels' in 2020. This marks the very first extradition arranged between the UAE and Belgium.
Franc G., born in 1992, arrived in Brussels on Saturday morning and will appear before an examining magistrate later in the day. The magistrate will then decide whether or not to issue an arrest warrant, according to a statement from the Federal Prosecutor's Office.
Around 20 other criminals wanted by Belgium are believed to be currently living in the UAE. They are mainly implicated in drug-related cases.
The prosecutors stressed that the extradition was made possible through close cooperation between the Federal Prosecutor's Office, the Justice and Foreign Affairs Ministries, and frequent contacts with the competent authorities in the UAE.
Former Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open VLD) signed an extradition treaty with the UAE two years ago. It was expected at that time that the treaty would ultimately enable the extradition to Belgium of key figures in the inquiry surrounding the encrypted messaging service Sky ECC, who were hiding in the UAE.
