A Belgian court on Tuesday convicted dozens of people in one of the country’s biggest drug trials, with the ringleaders sentenced to up to 17 years behind bars.

More than 120 defendants from Belgium, Albania, Colombia and North Africa have been accused of participating in a multinational cocaine and cannabis trafficking enterprise after investigators cracked encrypted messaging apps.

The case highlighted Belgium’s role as a gateway to Europe for drugs.

About two dozen defendants were led in handcuffs into a courtroom in the former headquarters of the NATO military alliance in Brussels.

They sat in the dock in front of a line of police officers as the judges read out the long list of verdicts. Other accused who had been released on bail pending trial sat in court to await their fate.

Among the first group to be convicted was Algerian Abdelwahab Guerni, one of the alleged ringleaders, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Albanian national Eridan Munoz Guerrero, another suspected leader, received a 14-year term.

Accused of running several cocaine labs in Belgium, Munoz Guerrero admitted his guilt at the start of the trial, telling the court: “Honored, I played, I lost.”

The trafficking ring — active from 2017 until the end of 2022 — involved numerous criminal gangs and was dismantled following police raids in Belgium, Germany and Italy.

Prosecutors asked for up to 20 years in prison for some of the accused.

They said the drugs were transported in containers from South America and Morocco and smuggled through ports in Belgium, particularly the giant port of Antwerp, as well as the Netherlands, Germany and France, before being sold across Europe .

The case was based in part on evidence discovered after investigators hacked the secret Sky ECC and EncroChat apps, which the gangs used to communicate.

By accessing the messaging tools, police said they were able to watch the unguarded planning and conduct of drug smuggling operations.

– “The Body of Advertising” –

Belgian authorities described the trial as the latest blow to drug-trafficking gangs.

But some defense lawyers condemned it as a “publicity stunt,” accusing prosecutors of bundling unrelated cases into a flashy trial.

“People were artificially linked to each other when they had no connection at all,” Guerni’s lawyer Gilles Vanderbeck told AFP before the sentences were handed down.

Prosecutors insist there was a “structure and hierarchy” between the various criminal groups involved and clear illegal business links.

Some suspects were acquitted, while dozens of others received prison sentences ranging from a few months to more than 10 years.

Sentencing was originally expected on September 2, but was postponed after a plea from one of the defendants.

mad-ub/fg