drug trafficking
The Belgian justice hopes that the impending extradition of ‘fat Nordin’ will herald the end of the United Arab Emirates as a refuge for Belgian criminals.
In extradition cases with the United Arab Emirates, it is always advisable to avoid a fight. As long as Nordin El H. (36), alias ‘fat Nordin van den Dam’, does not really set foot on Belgian soil, anything can happen, as the past has proven. Yet it looks like he won’t escape this time. For the first time, the highest court of the Emirates has given the green light for the extradition of the Belgian drug criminal.
Nordin El H. is what is called a high value target in legal terms. There are six cases against him in Antwerp for large-scale cocaine smuggling and arms trafficking. The best known is the ‘Bombs and grenades’ file, which not only concerns drug trafficking, but also concerns his involvement in a series of attacks with grenades. They exploded at the end of 2017 during a conflict between El H. and a rival group.
Strangely enough, El H. has not been convicted once, not even in absentia. This is because his lawyers Hans Rieder and Louis De Groote initiate proceedings in every case. In this way they took revenge on the judges several times.
Low deposit
Belgium had been trying to get El H. back for years without success. In 2020, the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office submitted three extradition requests to the United Arab Emirates. El H. was arrested in June 2020, but was quickly released after paying a very low bail. After a legal battle with the lawyers of the Belgian state, the three extradition requests were definitively rejected by the Emirates. The Belgian government tried again in 2023, after a new extradition treaty was concluded with the Emirates. This time it seems to work. El H. was locked up again in September and will probably come to our country soon.
A whole circle of Antwerp drug barons is probably staying in the Emirates today. Some names: Othman EB and his brother Younes; Youssef ‘Benz’ B.; Hosny A. and Maati K.; Omar G. and Stefan P., a business associate of the infamous Flor Bressers. In total there were about twenty wanted persons. The court wants to bring them one by one to Belgium to stand trial or to serve a sentence.
Unlike Nordin El H., they are still at large and are being left undisturbed for the time being. But there are signs that some of them are tired of fleeing. They would approach the judiciary to make a deal. The impending extradition of Nordin El H. can only encourage them to do so even more. In any case, that is the hope of the Belgian justice system.
Nordin El H. is not the first drug criminal to be extradited to our country by the Emirates. At the end of last year, the Albanian Franc G. was also deported from the Emirates at the request of our country. G. is a drug criminal and is also wanted for his involvement in a murder-for-hire in Brussels. That was a first small victory for justice. But the extradition of El H. would really be a boost.
