At the request of the Belgian court, a 43-year-old Antwerp drug criminal was arrested in Turkey on Tuesday. According to Belgian media, it concerns Jimmy H., alias “Kleine Vis” in the infamous drug case “Mackerel”. H. was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Court of Appeal in Antwerp in June 2021 for involvement in removing many hundreds of kilos of cocaine using the so-called ‘switch’ method.
Key figure
According to the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office, Jimmy H. from Borgerhout played an important role in a criminal organization that was involved in the import, export and sale of cocaine in 2014 and 2015. The criminal organization of which he was part, according to the authorities, imported large quantities of cocaine via the port of Antwerp and extracted them using the ‘switch method’.
Switch method
This switching method, in which large quantities of cocaine are transferred from South American containers to European containers with the help of corrupt port staff, was exposed for the first time in the Mackerel investigation. The criminal organization had its own warehouses and firms for this purpose.
H. was spotted internationally and was arrested by the Turkish police on Tuesday. He has now been extradited from Turkey to Belgium and detained there.
“Black”
Earlier this week it was announced that another main suspect in the Mackerel drug case is probably also residing in Turkey. According to the Gazet van Antwerpen, Abdelilah El M. alias “Black” left Dubai for Istanbul. El M. was sentenced to eight years in the Mackerel case and to twelve years in another drug case.
