An alleged drug trafficker, who had pending arrest warrants for his involvement in at least three cases of importing cocaine into Europe, was extradited to Belgium on Friday from Dubai where he had immigrated, the Belgian Ministry of Justice announced.

This is Nordin El Hajioui, a Belgian citizen of Moroccan origin, who is considered to be one of the main drug lords in Antwerp.

The 36-year-old was initially arrested in Dubai at the request of Belgian justice in 2020, then released, before being arrested and remanded in custody for a second time last year.

He appealed against his extradition to Belgium, but a higher court in the UAE gave the go-ahead in early March after exhausting all available legal remedies.

According to the Flemish public television network VRT, the so-called “Dikke Nordin” (or “big Nordin”), was repatriated on a plane specially chartered for the occasion by the Belgian authorities and was due to arrive last night at the military airport of Mellsbruck, near Brussels. .

Arrest warrants are pending against him from the Antwerp prosecutor’s office for three cases of international cocaine trafficking, its representative explained to AFP, referring to imports of large quantities of the white powder in the Old Continent. The port of Antwerp is the main gateway for the import of this drug from Latin America.

In December 2021, an extradition agreement was signed between the UAE and Belgium, which wants to see more wanted traffickers handed over to Belgian justice.

Belgian authorities have launched an investigation into drug lords who have taken refuge in Dubai following a 2021 operation that shut down encrypted communications network provider Sky ECC. The “breaking” of the encryption led to the issuance of at least seven international extradition warrants.

The interstate extradition agreement had not been translated into action for a long time.

The extradition of Nordin El Hajioui follows that of an Albanian national, also allegedly involved in drug trafficking, in December 2023. Belgian authorities are seeking the extradition of around two dozen other nationals of the country, according to an AFP source familiar with the matter.

Besides Belgium, France is also among the European countries that want to be brought before its courts for allegedly harboring drug traffickers in Dubai.

A week ago, Lebanese authorities arrested one of those suspects, French national Abdel Karim Touil, at the request of Paris. He was held in Dubai for several weeks before being released by the authorities.