His name is not known to the general public. Logically, Othman El Ballouti is not really in a legal sector of activity. He operates more in drug trafficking. So much so that his country, Belgium, has been demanding his extradition for several years. Good news in this sense: the native of Antwerp, 37, was arrested in Dubai, a judicial source said on Tuesday.
It was in the port of this coastal town that he started, at the very bottom of the ladder, according to La Libre Belgique. His first criminal activities? Courier to take drugs out of the port. But the ambitious man gets paid in cocaine and thus launches his network. Which is gradually gaining momentum. The man was then nicknamed the “king of coke” or “el Patron” in Antwerp, thanks to his organization.
But in 2016, he was arrested by the authorities for donating dirty money to a city school. Released on probation, the criminal then moved to Dubai. A choice which is not linked to chance: the United Arab Emirates do not have an extradition treaty with Belgium! The eldest of a Moroccan immigrant family can manage his business there peacefully. Flourishing!
According to the collective of investigative journalists OCCRP, his combined assets amounted to some 100 million euros a few years ago, without forgetting his real estate in Dubai worth 8 million euros, reports The Parisian.
Also in the sights of the United States
Othman El Ballouti was recently convicted in absentia in Belgium for having imported hundreds of kilograms of cocaine via the port of Antwerp. He has also been targeted by US Treasury sanctions since 2023 as a suspect in the importation and distribution of cocaine in the United States.
“We have obtained his arrest, we will now see if we obtain his extradition” declared the judicial source. “There are several files for which his extradition is requested, he would be the fifth” suspect handed over to Belgium by the United Arab Emirates since the signing in 2021 of a bilateral cooperation agreement, the same source underlined. .
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Facing a default sentence of seven years in prison handed down in September, Othman El Ballouti is also involved in another trial for drug trafficking in which a sentence of twenty years was requested against him this fall, according to the Belgian media. The judgment is expected soon.
