100 kg of cocaine found in Antwerp apartment near Boekenbergpark, 16-year-old arrested

The Antwerp police have found one hundred kilograms of cocaine in an apartment near the Boekenbergpark in Deurne-Zuid. A 16-year-old who was guarding the cocaine has been arrested.

The East neighborhood team of the Antwerp police zone conducted anonymous surveillance near the Boekenberg Park on Saturday evening because there was regular nuisance due to drug use and sales. Around 6 p.m., inspectors saw a man with an electric scooter driving around the neighborhood. “After a number of phone calls, he went to an apartment building in Boekenberglei,” the police said. The stepper rang the bell and a young man opened the door. He handed the man on the scooter a large shopping bag.

Because the inspectors suspected that a drug deal had taken place, they wanted to check the man on the scooter. He immediately dropped his vehicle and shopping bag and started running, trying to throw his mobile phone on the roof of a house. “That failed, after which the man tried to kick the device,” police said. The 27-year-old stepper was arrested despite fierce resistance. His shopping bag turned out to contain eight kilograms of cocaine. He also had 1,000 euros and an extra mobile phone in his pocket.

‘Stash’

Reason enough for a search of the apartment building in Boekenberglei. A 16-year-old boy appeared to be present inside. “He was recognized as the boy who had handed over the shopping bag,” the police said. One hundred kilograms of cocaine were found in the apartment, as well as 220,000 euros, as well as four alarm pistols and a money counting machine.

“The underage boy was brought before the juvenile judge and placed in a closed institution,” says public prosecutor’s office spokesman Kristof Aerts. “The 27-year-old man was brought before the investigating judge and arrested.” It concerns Mohamed EF from Borgerhout, a man who was previously prosecuted in an extensive drug case.

It strongly appears that the property was a so-called ‘stash’ of a criminal organization, the place where blocks of cocaine are kept awaiting sale to dealers and intermediaries. The 16-year-old suspect was probably the custodian of the cargo.