The facts now date from about 3.5 years ago. A man from Pulle (Zandhoven) had an appointment with the Bulgarian escort Diana G at his home on October 18, 2020. When the young woman left around 2 a.m., the victim was attacked in the driveway of his home in Dennenlaan by five men.
The man was dragged inside and tied hand and foot. What followed was a hostage situation that lasted for hours during which he was held, beaten and threatened. The men demanded the contents of the safe and threatened to kill him.
The victim refused to give the code, but after sixteen hours the robbers managed to open the safe. They fled with 38 kilos of gold and jewelry. The victim would not be found until the evening by his ex-wife, who had become concerned because he was not responding to her messages and calls.
Mechanic
The federal judicial police started an investigation, which quickly led to a Bulgarian gang of robbers via escort Diana G. The victim, the son of a jeweler, had told G. in confidence about the gold in the safe. The escort passed this information on to her friend, after which the plan was made to rob the man.
G. was arrested first. Her co-suspects had fled to Bulgaria with the loot, but were later arrested and extradited to our country. The criminal court in Antwerp sentenced those involved to eight years in prison on March 7, 2022. They had to pay the victim provisional compensation of 1.9 million euros.
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Three defendants – escort Diana G., Yordan Y. and Milen M – decided to appeal. They were punished, the court of appeal imposed a heavier sentence on the trio: ten instead of eight years in prison.
Milen M. (50) turned out to have no interest in life behind bars and decided to flee. The man had initially denied any involvement during the investigation, even though his DNA was found on a flashlight left at the crime scene.
M. eventually admitted his involvement in the criminal court. As a mechanic, he had been busy opening the safe. M. said he initially did not want to participate in the home invasion, but eventually did so at the insistence of the others.
Asylum application
A few months after his flight, the man turned up in Argentina. There he tried to apply for asylum as a refugee. That application was then refused, as the man was already on international alert at that time. Despite the hot breath of the police, M. managed to go into hiding again, until he was arrested this week by the Argentine police. He has been in an Argentinian cell ever since, awaiting extradition to our country.
The man’s lawyer, Hilary Rombouts, did not wish to respond to the news of his arrest.
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Tags: Fugitive criminal received years prison brutal home invasion Zandhoven arrested Argentina Zandhoven
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