A Brussels police officer has been held in custody after admitting to taking €25,000 discovered during a search linked to a drug trafficking investigation.
According to a report by Le Soir, confirmed by the Brussels Public Prosecutor's Office, the police officer works in the local investigation unit of the Brussels-Capital/Ixelles police zone. He was placed under an arrest warrant last week after allegedly stealing the money during a drug investigation search.
The officer reportedly found the cash while alone and allegedly decided not to declare it as seized property, instead putting it in his pockets.
The theft came to light after the person suspected in the drug investigation later mentioned the amount of money while being questioned.
This prompted the police zone's internal control service to investigate. Police later found the €25,000 in the officer's possession, Le Soir reported. The detective admitted taking the money when questioned.
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The Brussels Public Prosecutor's Office opened a judicial investigation and requested that the officer be held in pre-trial detention. An investigating judge subsequently issued an arrest warrant.
Both the prosecutor's office and the Brussels-Capital/Ixelles police zone declined to comment further on the ongoing case to the French-speaking daily.
Le Soir also highlighted that cases of alleged theft involving Belgian police officers are not uncommon among files investigated by the country's police watchdog.
Committee P's 2025 annual figures show that three of the 145 new cases assigned to its investigative service concerned theft or misappropriation by a police officer.
The investigation into the Brussels officer remains ongoing.
