Belgium puts alleged cartel link on trial: 'Finger cutter' and 'Brazilian Escobar' in court

A major trial has opened in Brussels over an alleged alliance between a Belgian criminal group and a Brazilian cocaine gang. Prosecutors say the case reveals how European criminals work directly with Latin American drug cartels. In the early hours of 7 September, heavily armed police moved through central Brussels toward the Haren district. They went to 22 Avenue du Bourget, a bunker-like complex that once served as NATO headquarters. The modernist building, hastily built in 1967, now holds the Justitia courtroom, where Belgium's federal trials take place. The perpetrators of the 2015 Paris attacks and the 2016 Brussels attacks were tried there in 2022.