The city and port of Antwerp, Belgium is probably Europe's biggest gateway for narcotics, and the city has its share of violence and drug gangs. On Monday evening, in the Merksem area of Antwerp someone fired bullets into the garage of a residence owned by the city's most notorious drug gang (family name not reported). An 11-year-old girl, the niece of the leaders of the gang, was killed. The leaders of the gang are fugitives hiding in Dubai. Other news sources describe the family as being originally from Morocco.
The below article from today's French-language La Libre (Belgium) is translated by Fousesquawk.
The little 11-year-old girl killed in a shooting "came from the richest family in the Antwerp underworld": Here is what we know.
Killed in a shooting on Monday, January 9, Firdaous, a little girl barely 11 years old, reportedly is from the largest Antwerp family implicated in drug trafficking.
Editorial staff
Posted January 10, 2023 at 10:53-Updated January 10, 2023 at 17:50
Caption: Death of a child during a shooting in Antwerp: "(Drug) consumers should look at themselves in the mirror"
According to our colleagues at HLN, little Firdaous comes from a family of drug barons. Her mother, Naziha, is reportedly the older sister of Othman, Younes, and Nordin El B. Naziha's brothers are not unknown to the police and intelligence services. They have already had contact with the justice system several times within the framework of investigations in the world of drugs. Since the monitoring of the Sky ECC chat service, investigators affirm it is clear that Othman and Younes pull the strings of the Antwerp drug scene out of Dubai, our Flemish colleagues indicate.
However, Naziha's family seems to be apart from all that. Neighbors describe a nice, irreproachable family. Aside from her oldest son, Mohamed El J., suspected of being linked to his notorious uncle, Othman, the possible cause of the attack Monday evening. (Antwerp mayor) Bart de Wever had also described the family of "baron" Othman as 'The richest in the Antwerp underworld".
There will certainly be a reaction
Othman E.B., uncle of the child shot and killed in Merksem Monday evening, confirms Tuesday to the newspaper, Gazet van Antwerpen, that the family will respond to the tragedy without resorting to violence. "We will search for the perpetrators with the police and the justice system," declared the 30-year-old wanted by police for drug trafficking, presumably from Dubai.
The mayor of Antwerp, Bart de Wever (N-VA), announced Monday evening that the family targeted by the attack is known in the drug world and that the incident should be considered in this context. He said he feared reprisals. "There will certainly be a reaction," Othman E.B. told the Gazet van Antwerpen. "But not how the mayor imagines it. History has already shown us innumerable examples of avengers, and it has never ended well for them." The uncle of the victim also denies any relation with the "underworld" or violence.
Othman E.B. has never been convicted in Belgium for drug trafficking, unlike his younger brother, Younes, also wanted by judicial authorities. He thinks the perpetrators of attacks like that on Monday should be punished more severely. "Some people who commit these attacks are sentenced to punishments of three years, suspended," he laments.
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