The Antwerp criminal court has sentenced three defendants for importing 771 kilos of cocaine. One of the defendants is Younes EB, nicknamed ‘El Magico’ in the drug world. He is the uncle of Firdaous, the girl who died barely five days earlier when unknown people shot at a house in Merksem.
Younes EB was kidnapped in 2016 and is the youngest brother of Othman EB, who is hiding in Dubai. The Public Prosecution Service had demanded nine years in prison against him, but it ended up being eight. He will also be fined 4,000 euros.
“Given the level of the penalties and the ties with foreign countries, there is a risk of evasion (flight hazard, BST) and risk of recidivism and immediate arrest is ordered,” says the judge.
However, Younes EB is also probably located in Dubai. The facts came to light through intercepted communication from a group chat on Sky ECC, the messaging service that the police were able to crack. Younes EB used pseudonyms such as Yamagata, Turbo2021 and Othman Broeder on that system. The court was able to deduce from this that it concerned the brother of Othman EB
In addition, the user of that profile mentioned in messages that he was kidnapped once and that he is ‘the youngest of them all’, that is, the youngest brother.
Lured through Tinder
Younes EB was in contact with an employee of shipping company Nippon Express via SKY ECC. The Mechelen Mara DS had to look for containers for a switch operation. In this process, consignments of cocaine are transferred from a South American container to a European container, in order to reduce the risk of inspection by customs.
In February 2021, customs seized 771 kilograms of cocaine in a container that Mara DS had suggested as a switchbak.
She stated that she had become involved in the facts through a third defendant, Zouhair L. The two had met through Tinder and had started a relationship. Zouhair L. gave her a cryptophone and promised her money. Younes EB organized the picks.
Mara DS said she was promised 20,000 euros, but only received 5,000. She was sentenced to three years in suspended prison. Zouhair L. has been sentenced to six years in prison. The court also ordered the immediate arrest for him, at the insistence of the Public Prosecution Service.
In a few weeks, Younes EB will be on trial again, in a larger SKYECC file, together with brother Othman. This involves the import of several tons of cocaine, with a street value of tens of millions of euros.