From escape with sheets to hostage-taking of Berlusconi's accountant: prison sentences of up to 15 years in major drug trial in Liège
At a major drug trial in Liège, the ringleaders have been given sentences of up to 15 years in prison. Links with the mafia clan Ndrangheta, a prison escape with sheets and a broomstick and two brothers who were once involved in the hostage-taking of Berlusconi's accountant: the account of this trial reads like a film script.
Hanne Decré
Thu Feb 2711:21
Patience is a virtue. For the roots of this story, we have to go back a decade, to early 2015. In Calabria, "Operation Gentleman" unfolds, in which the Guardia di Finanza takes a rough brush through a local 'Ndrangheta clan. This Italian investigation brings to light a large-scale drug trafficking.
However, one of the leaders manages to escape and flees to Germany, where he is arrested three years later in Frankfurt. In those three years, he has managed to set up a new logistical base from which to continue his drug trade.
How the investigators ended up in our country
The link with Belgium? We have to look there. Because the police discover that several key figures regularly travel to our country to have contact with an Albanian accomplice. In November 2020, the Belgian justice system is tipped off that several suspects are said to be in the region around Liège. The investigators from the various countries join forces and work on the investigation for 2.5 years.
Because that mysterious Albanian henchman - Ilir Pere - is far from a small shrimp. His contacts range from the Italian Ndrangheta mafia to the Mexican drug cartel of Joaquín Guzman - El Chapo. Contacts that the Ndrangheta can appreciate.
There is still a lot to tell about Pere himself. He had to serve a 28-year prison sentence in Italy, but in the aftermath of an earthquake there he was able to escape from the heavily guarded prison of Rebibbia together with two others. The three were able to saw through their bars and then lower themselves down the watchtower with sheets and a broomstick. "Prison Break" in real life.
Die Pere had to put together so-called "extraction teams" in Liège together with an accomplice. These teams had to retrieve the drugs, originating from the South American cartels, from ports spread across Europe. In order to then hand them over to the Italian mafia.
They covered all of Europe - Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Ukraine. Often in their own vehicles, which were converted to cross the borders unnoticed with money and drugs. The law can also link a cocaine lab in Antwerp to the gang. In such an illegal lab, the cocaine is "purified", for example, the cocaine is extracted from objects.
The payment is said to have been made in kind - they were allowed to keep a percentage of the cocaine.
The federal prosecutor suspects that the Albanians provided their "logistical services" to the 'Ndrangheta from 1 June 2019, and that their criminal activities continued until 2023. During that time, Pere had to put together several teams. Several members of the first team were intercepted in Odessa by the Ukrainian secret service, for example.
The kidnapping of Berlusconi's accountant
We'll make a brief side trip about that first team, but the story is too good not to tell. Because that team included the Tanko brothers. And they were involved in the hostage-taking of Silvio Berlusconi's accountant in October 2012. It goes like this. When Giuseppe Spinelli wanted to take the elevator to his apartment, he was overpowered by six criminals. They beat him up, broke his glasses and forced him to listen to their "interesting and sensitive information" about Berlusconi.
Silvio Berlusconi (left) and his accountant (right)
In exchange for 35 million, they would give their information to Berlusconi with which he could - according to them - contest his conviction. But the story ended with a huge fizzle. Their USB stick turned out to be incompatible with Spinelli's computer. Spinelli did call Berlusconi to deliver the message, after which they released him with the USB stick. They never saw their money.
Furthermore, they hadn't really made things difficult for the investigators. Their cigarette butts were still in the apartment, and they had taken beer from the fridge and then left it there. Read: their DNA was everywhere.
Enter a second and third team
Back to our country. Pere has to put together a new team, again with two Albanian brothers and a Kosovar. At that moment, Liège is no longer the center of gravity, it has shifted to Brussels and Antwerp. But that second team is also intercepted - at that moment, a second investigation is already underway, this time in Brussels.
Enter a third team. That team also includes Mikel Rakipllari, an Albanian fellow prisoner who managed to escape from the Italian prison with Pere. What's more: Rakipllari survived a hail of bullets in Brussels. He was shot in our capital in 2022 with no less than six bullets and barely survived .
And there are more hallucinatory details. Two kilograms of cocaine were found in the children's bedroom of one of the extractors. "What an upbringing," the prosecutor said during the trial. The family lived on benefits, but drove a Mercedes, had thousands of euros in cash at home, and in photos they could be seen on jet skis and on trips to Milan or Barcelona.
The End
On June 5, 2023, the entire criminal organization around Pere falls . The police raid our country, Germany and Italy at the same time. Pere himself is found in Germany, in a remote location in Gründau.
During the operation, 3.8 million euros were also seized - cash, drugs, but also expensive cars.
The file is built up from observations, tapped conversations, but also from the now well-known SKY ECC telephones, which the investigators were able to crack.
The trial started in October. In the dock: extractors, transporters, port workers and ringleaders. 24 in total, all between 30 and 75 years old. The debates are translated into Dutch, Italian and Albanian - which immediately indicates the international character of this trial.
Not all of them are present at their trial - some, including one of the Tanko brothers, are still in custody in Ukraine.
The prosecutor demanded sentences of up to 20 years for the import, export, manufacture and possession of drugs, for participation in a criminal organization, for forgery and for possession of weapons.
The most severe sentence that was eventually handed down was 15 years in prison and a fine of 800,000 euros. 19 other defendants were sentenced to sentences ranging from 2 to 12 years in prison. They were also given fines ranging from 8,000 to 600,000 euros.
https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2025/01/29/drugsproces-luik/
