An 86-year-old German man was detained in Brussels for smuggling heroin in May 2021, skipped his bail & failed to show up in court. It is still not identified how much heroin the man has smuggled. He was sentenced to prison for around 36 months.
This was not the first time that a grandparent has fallen foul of the law for drug offences.
There was a similar case took place in which a 54-year-old Tanzanian was discovered while smuggling 5 kg of heroin in Brussels. After the police arrested him, he mentioned that he could use this money to pay for the kidney dialysis of his granddaughter, and he was also sentenced to 36 months in prison.
Along with this, Antwerp councillor Jinnih Beels mentioned the requirement to liberalise Belgium’s laws related to hard narcotics to fight the nation’s drug issue three weeks back, saying that the century-old legislation needs to be updated to regulate the usage of drugs better.
On the other hand, in 2019, Belgium was considered the drug market hub of Europe, as the availability of narcotics had arrived at an “all-time high” on the continent.
Furthermore, a prominent Brussels drug gang was caught at the end of 2021, as police officials of Belgium have arrested 27 suspects and seized 1.6 tonnes of narcotics.