Limburg Drug Lord: The Extravagant Life of Flor Bressers in Switzerland

2023-07-07 10:06:12

The Limburg drug lord Flor Bressers, better known as the “Cutter of fingers”, lived no less than two years in Switzerland, stashed with his wife and child. Swiss court documents reveal how the couple spent millions of dollars from drug trafficking while living under the radar in the Alps. Portrait of a sumptuous life, on top speed, which seems inaccessible to ordinary mortals.

Flor Bressers, 36, was arrested in Zurich in February 2022 after a manhunt that kept police and the public spellbound for several months. The drug trafficker was on the list of the most wanted men in Belgium. His name has appeared several times in investigations into international drug trafficking, dark cases in which violence is inextricably linked.

The nickname “Cutter of fingers” was given to him following a settling of scores that occurred in 2010, when the Limburger was known to the authorities for acts of armed robbery. In August 2010, a Dutchman who was walking his dog in Overpelt was dragged into a car. Two men wearing carnival masks drove him to a forest in the nearby Dutch town of Bergeijk, where they beat him. One of the perpetrators sat on him and cut off his left little finger with pruning shears. An act of revenge, the victim having denounced Bressers in a drug case.

Belgium’s Most Wanted

“This is a person convicted in 2020 for acts of hostage-taking. He is also called ‘the Finger Cutter’ because he cut off a knuckle with pruning shears.” It was with these words that the Minister of Justice, Vincent Van Quickenborne, announced in May 2021 that Bressers had been added to our country’s most wanted list.

In 2020, Flor Bressers was sentenced to four years in prison by the Antwerp Court of Appeal for theft with gang violence, gang extortion with weapons and unlawful deprivation of liberty with death threats. The facts were committed on February 12 and 13, 2016. Bressers and his accomplices suspected the victim of having lost a quantity of drugs and demanded a large sum of money from her. The hostage blamed Bressers for hitting him and slashing his hand.

The drug trafficker was also wanted for containers of drugs that had been smuggled into Belgium by the Antwerp company Kriva Rochem. Tons of cocaine had been concealed in the shipment of manganese ore.

All these “feats of arms” earned him to appear on the list of Belgium’s Most Wanted. However, this did not prevent the 30-year-old from escaping police vigilance and taking refuge in Switzerland, where he lived for two years with his 29-year-old Dutch partner and their child.

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The Hotel Dolder, in Zurich, where they stayed for a month. © Hotel Dolder

Mr. Bressers was extradited to Belgium in October. His partner has been behind Swiss bars for almost 250 days. According to local media, the Dutch woman will have to appear in court on July 12 on charges of money laundering, multiple forgery of identity cards and documents, and breach of trust of the authorities.

2.5 million euros

According to the Swiss newspaper Tagesanzeiger, court documents highlight the astronomical sum spent by the couple during their run in Switzerland. They would have spent nearly 2.5 million euros in apartments and luxury products. According to the court, the wife of Flor Bressers, seven years his junior, must have known that this money came from drug trafficking.

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Lake Zurich, where the two lovebirds rented a villa and stayed in hotels. © Getty Images

Homes more luxurious than each other

The couple lived for the entire month of June 2020 in the luxury hotel Dolder (77,000 euros). They then went for two weeks to the Baur au Lac hotel (23,000 euros), before moving into a villa located along Lake Zurich. The rent for the house cost no less than 224,000 euros, not counting the work carried out by an interior designer to bring the decoration up to date (178,000 euros). The cupboard was filled with many luxury items (223,500 euros). Madame Bressers also acquired a luxury motor boat for the modest sum of 179,000 euros.

3,100 euros per bottle of wine

The last eight months preceding their arrest, the couple found themselves in a luxury apartment located in the Renaissance Tower in Zurich (211,000 euros). However, these various purchases did not satisfy Flor Bressers’ appetite. Accustomed to an ever more lavish lifestyle, the drug trafficker spent the rest of his money on 131 bottles of wine (410,000 euros), or more than 3,100 euros per bottle, on televisions and audio installations (137,000 euros), and finally in jewelry and clocks (684,000 euros).

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Flor Bressers hid out for several months in a similar apartment in Zurich. © Newhome

Luxury cars and vacations

The two fugitives were able to count on the support of a 32-year-old Swiss man of Kosovo origin. He was reportedly Bressers’ right-hand man and also bought luxury cars, booked vacations and paid the couple’s bills.

The man would also have spent more than 300,000 euros in drugs, both for him and for the two lovebirds. After the arrest of the drug baron, he allegedly stole things from the couple’s apartment, for a total value of 76,000 euros. He must also answer for his actions in court.