2023-07-24 04:10:21
Drug trafficking creates many tensions in the Brussels region. Not only for the police, but also for residents and shopkeepers. The dealers have taken possession of certain districts of Brussels and are no longer hiding. One of our teams produced a long report on the scourge that plagues the capital.
Our team went to Matongé, the hot district of Ixelles. We are in the middle of the day, on a weekday, in front of the gallery. This is one of the main deal points. Individuals come to us. “Do you need weed?“, launches us one of them. We ask if they have the product on them and if it is easy to get some.It’s like in all neighborhoods. Everyone has it here“, he answers us.
Weed, cannabis, cocaine: it deals in full view of everyone, even under police surveillance cameras.
A trader from Ixelles threatened testifies
Residents, however, continue to alert the authorities. “We estimate between 2,000 and 5,000 euros the daily sale of drugs in front of our house“Said a witness. Some sent emails to the mayor and the police every week for a year.”As we told you, murders were coming. You will not be surprised to learn that the victim was 5 minutes before, rue d’Edinbourg“, writes another.
A neighborhood merchant can’t take it anymore. He testifies anonymously. “They took over the land. The public forces are afraid of it, and the political forces do not have the will to intervene“, he tells us.
Without any reaction from the authorities, he tried to protect himself as best he could. “First, we had cameras. They got vandalized. And then we postponed, and we were threatened: ‘You remove this within the hour, otherwise there will be physical reprisals’“, confides the trader.
50 meters from the town hall and the police station, our team observes another deal point, rue de la Crèche. Three young people are watching on the spot. In the district, almost all traders have left for two years under pressure from dealers. “They get in front and throw eggs at customers“, explains our witness again.
The mayor of Ixelles, Christos Doulkeridis, did not respond to our request for an interview. He sends us back to the police. So we contact the police area. “The police lack a lot of resources, financial, material and human. We do what we can with what we have. But what we refuse are areas of lawlessness. […] Every time we intervene, it comes back in this or that way“, explains Christophe Servais, deputy spokesperson for the Brussels Capital-Ixelles police zone.
Saint-Gilles: drug trafficking in public in front of our cameras
Our team takes the direction of another Brussels municipality: Saint-Gilles, place Bethléem. This is another well-known traffic spot. We are not welcome. After a few minutes there, we are asked to leave. While we are clearly identified as journalists, with camera and microphone, transactions are made under our noses.
A man on a moped leaves with the money while the dealer goes to hide the goods in a trash can. “We are faced with a phenomenon where dealers have taken possession of the land and feel in total impunity and the police are doing their job“, says Jean Spinette, mayor of Saint-Gilles.
On patrol with the police
To better understand the work of the police, we embark on a patrol in action. Tracking dealers is one of the missions of this specialized action unit in the Midi police zone. “They know all our car plates by heart“, explains a policeman while a dealer flees. But the police also know almost everything about dealers.It’s a drive-in here“, indicates an agent. “As my colleague says, a drive-in is word for word. Cars are on the street. People don’t even get out of their cars anymore. They open their doors, the exchange, and sometimes there’s a line“, adds another.
They were even using people’s mailboxes and forbidding them to use them
The patrol knows to wait before catching any. “Sometimes they even used people’s mailboxes and forbade them to use them.“, says a policeman.
The places of traffic abound, as in Clémenceau. The police fall on a young man well known to their service. “Loyal to the job? And what Hamza, what’s going on?“, they throw at him. Shortly after, the police explain to us that the dealers “are very very confident“and that they”are not afraid of Belgian justice“.
A roadblock to hinder the police
The dealers obviously aren’t afraid of the police either. During our report, the patrol comes across a roadblock set up by traffickers.
A young man is on the run. The police call for reinforcements to corner him a little lower, a little later. “Why are you running?“, launches a policeman at the time of passing the handcuffs to the suspect.Because I saw the police!“, he replies.
The teenager is found with 310 euros of money hidden in his underwear. “Since you don’t have a wallet, you thought you were going to put it in your underwear. It’s crystal clear“, launches a policeman with a touch of humor.
An arrest is then hours of administrative work. Especially since the teenager walks the police for an hour, giving five times a false identity and a false address. The police eventually identify him. He is a Carolo known to justice. “You have three pages of facts at sixteen! You don’t respect anyone“says a policeman.
The young man was placed at the disposal of the youth judge. “No matter how much we stop, stop, stop people, in the end it just explodes everywhere“, concludes a policeman.
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