More than forty suspected members of a Peterbos cocaine network go on trial in Brussels from today
Alleged ringleader Imad B. is accused of ordering six attempted murders from his cell, and the hearings are expected to last about a month.
A trial opens in Brussels today against a drug network based in the Peterbos neighbourhood of Anderlecht. BX1 and The Brussels Times count 45 defendants before the criminal court, while VRT NWS puts the number at 46. According to the public broadcaster, the trial will last roughly a month and prosecutors will seek heavy sentences.
The central figure is Imad B., known as Mara, who is held in Ittre prison. He is charged with leading a criminal organisation and with drug trafficking. Prosecutors say he ordered six attempted murders from his cell, linked to six shootings in the second half of 2023. VRT NWS describes how he grew up in Peterbos, met the leader of a drug gang from the La Castellane district while living in Marseille, and returned in mid-2020. Police sources say the cocaine trade brought in more than 11 million euros in two years.
The charges also include weapons possession, arson and money laundering, VRT NWS reports. The shootings in late 2023 were tied to the drug market in the nearby Aumale area. In one of them, a 31-year-old driver who was not the intended target was killed on Rue Wayez; Imad B. will face a separate assize trial over that case. In an earlier Peterbos trial in 2022 he was sentenced to eight years, and 29 others were convicted.