Antwerp drug criminal Omar Govers has been arrested in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, Antwerp daily Gazet van Antwerpen reports. Govers, known in the underworld as ‘Patje Haemers’, has already been convicted in Belgium several times for drug-related offenses, resulting in a sentence of a total of 53 years in prison.
Home News
Antwerp drug baron Omar ‘Patje Haemers’ Govers arrested in Dubai
Colin Clapson
Published:
Updated:
Omar Govers is a key figure in the Antwerp cocaine trade. The judicial authorities consider him a ‘high-value target’, just like Nordin El Hajjioui and Othman El Ballouti.
The 30-year-old used to live in the Antwerp district of Merksem, from where he ran a network of street dealers. The former kickboxer quickly climbed the criminal ladder and, like many other drug lords, moved to Dubai.
From there, he organised various drug shipments to the port of Antwerp. In the meantime, he is also said to have been active in the real estate world in Dubai.
Convicted repeatedly
Govers has been convicted in Belgium for drug-related offenses several times now: in April this year, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for importing 42 shipments of cocaine through the port of Antwerp.
His latest conviction, in June, added another 10 years to his sentence, again for his involvement in importing several consignments of cocaine. In both cases, the crimes came to light through intercepted communications from the hacked encrypted Sky ECC messaging service.
In total, the drug criminal must serve 53 years in prison.
Working visit
The arrest comes as Belgian justice minister of Annelies Verlinden (Flemish Christian democrat CD&V) is on a working visit to the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
“Our cooperation is immediately paying off: a first arrest before we even returned to Belgium,” she wrote on Instagram.
Omar Govers will likely be extradited to Belgium soon.
Who was Patrick Haemers ?
Patrick Haemers was a Belgian criminal, who was a member of a gang which carried out security van hold-ups and kidnapped former Belgian premier Paul Vanden Boeynants in 1989. He hanged himself from a 130-centimetre (4'3")-high radiator in a Belgian jail cell in 1993.