Nordin El Hajjioui, better know by his nickname “Dikke Nordin van den Dam” (Fat Nordin from the Dam) has been sentenced to 12 year’s imprisonment for his part in a large-scale cocaine smuggling operation. The judge at the Antwerp Criminal Court described Dikke Nordin’s crimes as “particularly serious”, adding that from outside the country he led a well-oiled criminal organisation that was not afraid to use violence.
The court found Nordin El Hajjioui guilty of being the leader of the criminal organisation that had smuggled large quantities of drugs into the country. He was also found guilty of firearms offences.
The court sentenced “Fat Nordin” to 12 years imprisonment and fined him 12,000 euro. 5 million euro in ill-gotten gains were also confiscated by the court.
Shot in the foot
The investigation into Nordin El Hajjioui got underway in 2019 when a 20-year-old woman shot herself in the foot at a flat in Zwijndrecht just outside Antwerp. A search of the flat following the incident discovered a haul of firearms and drugs.
In the investigation that followed detectives unmasked a criminal organisation that was involved in the large-scale smuggling of cocaine. They identified Nordin El Hajjioui as its leader.
In 2022 more than 50 suspects in the case appeared in court. Nordin El Hajjiou was also summoned to appear but didn’t turn up. He was in Dubai, where he had fled following an earlier conviction for another less serious offence. It wasn’t until March 2024 that he was finally extradited to Belgium. The other members of the gang were sentenced at the end of 2024.
In addition to the charges for which he was convicted on Tuesday, Nordin El Hajjioui will appear in court on charges related to other cases. These trials will be held in Antwerp and Tongeren (Limburg Province). If found guilty he risks spending dozens more years behind bars.