Brussels' new Public Prosecutor Julien Moinil confirmed links between drug gangs operating in the notorious Peterbos district in Anderlecht and the French port city of Marseille.
Following a large-scale police operation in Peterbos – in which around 900 officers from across the country descended on the area – on Wednesday, Moinil confirmed the connection between the high-rise social housing area and Marseille.
"We have known for a long time that there are certain places in Brussels where drug trafficking has established itself and has penetrated deeply, and the Peterbos district is one of them," he stressed during a press conference on Thursday morning.
The Belgian authorities confirmed links between individuals, organisations and structures between the two. "The Marseille Public Prosecutor will be in Brussels in the first week of July to discuss a collaboration," Moinil said.
19 arrests
Despite past interventions, organised drug trafficking continues to plague the district. In June 2024, 19 suspects were arrested in a drug investigation, yet the neighbourhood remains a hotspot for drug activity. Frequent violent clashes have occurred between the Peterbos-based organisation and rival drug gangs, with a spate of recent shootings in Brussels resulting in multiple fatalities.
Wednesday's intervention was the first phase of Moinil's five-point plan to "give the area back to its residents." However, he refused to elaborate on the other four phases of the plan, so as "not to provide the criminals with a playbook of what's to come."
Stressing that it will take years, not months, to make the area safe again, he underlined that securing the neighbourhood will be a long-term project – not only in Peterbos, but in other hotspots across Brussels as well.
A police action in the 'Peterbos' neighbourhood in Anderlecht, Brussels on Wednesday 11 June 2025. Credit: Belga/James Arthur Gekiere
On Wednesday, 19 people were picked up and four others were arrested judicially. Four people were also caught working illegally. A total of 271 flats, 411 people and 117 vehicles were checked.
"The aim of the operation was to secure the hundreds of unoccupied flats in the 18 blocks of Peterbos. Precision scales and drugs were found in some, as well as one weapon. They were clearly being used for drug trafficking."
The chief of Brussels Midi police zone, Jurgen De Landsheer will be "ensuring an increasingly significant and permanent presence in the neighbourhood," he explained. Other "hotspots" in the capital will also be targeted by this type of operation.
For his part, the mayor of Anderlecht, Fabrice Cumps (PS), said that access to these temporarily unoccupied premises would be walled up. "The motto of Anderlecht is 'my place to be.' We want it to be like that again."
The Peterbos area has been in the hands of drug gangs for long enough, Cumps and Moinil said. "It is time to put an end to that."
