The federal police seized more than €195 million in 2025, according to the new annual report just presented by the police. In the coming years, the federal government wants to focus on seizures even more, e.g. the seizure of expensive cars and watches, even if nobody has yet been convicted. ‘We want to make crime less attractive for young people.’
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Federal police seized €195 million in crime money last year: ‘Just the tip of the iceberg’
Colin Clapson
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The common thread running through the federal police's annual report is the extent to which the fight against drug crime dominates the work of the federal police. ‘More than 20 per cent of our investigations are devoted to drugs,’ says police chief Eric Snoeck.
Drugs, together with money laundering cases, also top the list when it comes to newly opened cases. In total, the police opened 4,011 new cases last year: almost 700 involving drugs and more than 800 involving money laundering.
Last year, Antwerp maritime police made 207 arrests linked to drugs, compared to 128 in 2024. This included 41 minors, more than double the number of the previous year. Last year, 41 drug laboratories were also dismantled, a record number. The majority were located in Limburg Province, but laboratories were also found in Liège, Hainaut and Luxembourg Province.
Bringing top criminals to face Belgian justice
In recent years, considerable efforts have been made to bring criminals who are higher up in the drugs pyramid to Belgium. The hacking by the police and decryption of Sky ECC phones used by criminal networks five years ago yielded a wealth of information.
At the end of January, the federal public prosecutor's office reported that Nordin El Ballouti, one of the brothers of Antwerp drug lord Othman El Ballouti, had been extradited by the United Arab Emirates. In 2025, there were a total of seven such extraditions.
‘But if you really want to tackle these networks, you need not only to make arrests, but also undermine their revenue model,’ says Belgian interior minister Bernard Quintin (Francophone liberal MR). ‘Criminals need to be hit where it hurts: in their wallets.’
Follow the money
In 2025, more than €195 million in criminal assets were seized. This is an underestimate, as a number of categories are not included in the figures, such as amicable settlements in criminal cases.
Belgian justice minister Annelies Verlinden (Flemish Christian democrat CD&V) calls it ‘the tip of the iceberg’ anyway. The aim now is to recruit 100 people for a financial division within the federal public prosecutor's office that focuses on money laundering and social fraud.
‘In addition, we want to make it possible to seize and confiscate goods without anybody being convicted first,’ says the minister. ‘For example, when expensive cars are being driven around town without anybody being able to justify how the prices of these cars were ever paid.’
‘If evidence shows that this has been financed using criminal assets, we should be able to seize and confiscate them.’
Appeals against this will of course still be possible. ‘But in this way, we want to remove the appeal criminal activities have for young.’