DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An alleged drug trafficker sought after in reference to a global drug smuggling operation throughout the Belgian port of Antwerp has been arrested, Dubai police mentioned Monday. Othman El Ballouti, who was once sanctioned through the U.S. closing 12 months, was once held over a global arrest warrant issued through Belgian government. “El Ballouti has been passed over to Dubai Public Prosecution for felony complaints associated with extradition,” a police commentary mentioned. It wasn’t straight away transparent if El Ballouti had a legal professional.El Ballouti, 37, was once believed to be dwelling within the United Arab Emirates, a federation of 7 sheikhdom at the Arabian Peninsula additionally house to Abu Dhabi. He was once sanctioned in 2023 through the U.S. Treasury which described him as “a high-level drug trafficker.” “El Ballouti manages a global felony group that smuggles vital amounts of cocaine by the use of transport packing containers throughout the port of Antwerp in Belgium for wider distribution during Europe,” the Treasury Division mentioned on the time.
“Othman El Ballouti’s cash laundering and narcotics provide chain networks are related to companies primarily based within the Other folks’s Republic of China, in addition to South American cocaine providers.”
On the time of the sanctions being issued, the U.S. made some extent to record El Ballouti’s cope with as a high-end rental advanced in downtown Dubai, close to the Burj Khalifa, the sector’s tallest construction.
With the UAE now heading the world policing frame Interpol, the rustic has confronted renewed wondering over its lax exams on cash laundering and reluctance to extradite suspects. That has best greater as Russian cash flows into the country amid Moscow’s battle on Ukraine.In reaction, the UAE has made a number of excessive profile arrests to extradite suspects again to the West.
