TKJ with all DNA research nowadays, why cant they solve the case of the Nijvel Gang? Do some people still want to stifle the whole affair?

Don't get me started on that whole situation. It's a filthy mess. My best guess is that it was situated in the spheres of the Belgian military police at the time (gendarmerie/rijkswacht). It's very high up the food chain and the truth will never ever come out. It's a complete cover-up every time anybody gets too close to the truth.

The boys in Antwerp are at it again. On Thursday in a burning car a dead man was found, north of the center. The identity of the victim is still unknown, according to the Gazet van Antwerpen .

Yeah it's getting heated over there. According to a few researchers, the current drug scene in Antwerp is rife with informants.

In the international crime world, there has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the 'revelations' of the Dutch website Crimebron.nl, which labels two Antwerp cocaine smugglers as police informants of the American DEA.

The man who was found last week in the trunk of a burning car on the Eilandje in Antwerp is a notorious French criminal, according to the Gazet van Antwerpen. It would be Mourad Kharbouch (34, alias The General).. Kharbouch is from Dunkirk. He is a well-known in the French drug environment and has been convicted several times. He already received a 10-year prison sentence.
Kharbouch was shot before he was put in the trunk of an Opel Corsa with French license plate.The French newspaper La Voix du Nord reports that Kharbouch was also tortured before he was shot dead.

The Dutch police were able to realize a breakthrough in the Stefaan Bogaerts case. DNA had been found in the flight car, which had been burnt out in Barendrecht. And presumably on this basis the police kept a 47-year-old man from The Hague on Tuesday afternoon.
He is suspected of the murder of the Belgian businessman Stefaan Bogaerts, who was shot in his car in Rotterdam on 21 September 2017.
The 47-year-old man is a member of the outlaw club Calow Wagoh Main Triad, and is from The Hague.
The club, linked to the Crips, has been so much in the news lately in high-profile cases.
The suspects of the Panorama attack are also members of this organization, as well as one of the suspects who were involved in the liquidation of 'the brother of the crown witness' Reduan B.

Belgian Police Raid Several Soccer Clubs in Vast Probe
Belgian authorities say 57 police raids are ongoing in Belgium and six other European nations in a vast probe into financial fraud and match-fixing in soccer.

https://www.usnews.com/news/sports/...-raid-several-soccer-clubs-in-vast-probe

The kickboxer Abdelali El Oualkadi has mistreated four guards in the prison of Mechelen in such a way that they had to have their wounds treated in a hospital. The 30-year-old El Oualkadi serves a sentence of 10 years for involvement in a shooting.

At least finally some progress !

In Belgium, a second former police detective who was involved in the investigation into the infamous Belgian Gang of Nivelles was arrested. It concerns the 70-year-old Francois A. from Halle, confirms the Public Prosecution Service. Last week, 62-year-old former Detective Philippe V. was arrested on suspicion of manipulating the investigation.

Here's hoping these aren't some insignificant nuggets they bring up just to let the public know they're still investigating this thing.
If anybody's interested in the Nivelles happenings, the "Bende van Nijvel" forum is quite interesting (it's in Dutch tho).

It's been rather busy down my neck of the woods.

Close to me there were 3 dead people found in a warehouse that doubled as a lab for making synthetic drugs. All 3 of them were Dutch from Eindhoven and Valkenswaard. Links with the North Brabant underworld are assumed. The higher ups are probably from the "kamper" areas in the Eindhoven region, Oss, Roosendaal...or from St. Willebrord and are pretty much untouchable.

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2019/01/29/doden-teruggevonden-bij-drugslabo-in-eksel/

Yesterday in the Brederodestraat in Antwerp an execution took place in broad daylight. Two Turkish cousins were shot by a Turkish-Kurdish man and his son near a Turkish cafe. One of the victims has been declared dead now. The perpetrators are the owners of an infamous Kurdish cafe.

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2019/02/02/2-mensen-in-levensgevaar-na-schietpartij-in-antwerpen/

Colombian drug cartel seen behind 2017 murder of Belgian in Athens

http://www.ekathimerini.com/237433/...-behind-2017-murder-of-belgian-in-athens

He is one of the Sicilians from Liège. The Vancheris are major traffickers.

Not sure if I've posted about this before. But the story of the Brabant killers is interesting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brabant_killers

Some theorise that they had military and/or police connections.

The albanians are moving up allright

Yeah they work with Dutch, Spanish, Italians.

Netherlands has arrested drug lord Abdelhakime D. (61) from Antwerp and surrendered to Belgium. The Moroccan called 'the godfather of drug cafes' is wanted for large-scale cocaine traffic.

I'm listening to dutch café music, travellers love that stuff.

Hahaha yeah it's never a good idea to speak badly of André Hazes when a Dutch Traveller is nearby

Does the untouchability of the higher ups mentioned above stem from their political connections ? Or are there other factors involved ?

Hard to say. The Netherlands isn't Sicily, but in some communities in North Brabant, Limburg, South Holland...or even some of the Northern provinces there definitely does exist somewhat of a likewise culture; which of course can extend to local law enforcement and politics. By Western European standards some of the Dutch career criminals grew unusually big. You can't possibly get that big without connections of some sort.

Holland doesn't have a federal police force and the southern provinces always have been a bit rebellious against dutch authorities lol.
They also make good use of the borders with Belgium and Germany.

Also the sales value of ecstasy and amphetamine produced in the Netherlands amounts to at least 18.9 billion euros worldwide, of which at least 3 to 5 billion land in the pockets of those guys. With that kind of money it becomes much easier to be ´untouchable´.

Yeah it's crazy. Many of them also don't really flaunt their wealth and just prefer to live in their trailer and drink at the local bar as opposed to living in castle-like mansions.

Belgian agent arrested for support of criminal gang
A detective of the Antwerp police was detained by the Antwerp investigating judge yesterday in the investigation into the Assyrian mafia family Y.

BY: MARTIJN HAAS
February 16, 2019 10:59
Belgian agent arrested for support of criminal gang
Initial arrests preceded the arrest of the policeman. For example, fifteen members of the criminal Assyrian family Y. have already been arrested Tuesday at various locations in Belgium.

The investigation into the gang has been running since November 2017 and led to a series of 46 house searches on Tuesday, in which 15 people were arrested.

According to the Antwerp prosecution, the policeman is suspected of corruption, violation of his professional secrecy, abuse of trust and membership of a criminal organization. The inspector worked at the Handelsstraat office in the Antwerp district of Stuivenberg. Many members of the Assyrian family live there.

The gang of this Assyrian family Y. would not only have asked police officers to provide hand and sports services, but also a municipal officer and people working in the banking sector.

The gang would have dealt with drug smuggling, money laundering, weapons and corruption. According to the public prosecutor's office, the goal was not only to acquire a large wealth, but also to gain influence from the police, city services, the port, politics, banking and the church.

https://panorama.nl/misdaad/belgische-agent-aangehouden-voor-steun-aan-criminele-gang

But not just ordinary trailers lol.

Sicilian anti-mafia justice in Liège: progress has been made on the assassination attempt on Saverio Sacco

They stayed several days in Ardent city. Two Sicilian prosecutors and the head of the mobile brigade of Agrigento came to Liege lands to question key witnesses in the case of the assassination attempt on Saverio Sacco, victim of a shooting outside his home in April 2017.

As a reminder, on April 28, 2017, Saverio Sacco , who runs a pizzeria in the center of Seraing, was returning to his home in Grâce-Hollogne when he was a victim of what the Liège judiciary so far describes as an assassination attempt. The man was in the company of his wife and their child.

Until then, nothing that could interest Italian justice. Except that the commando was composed of well-known protagonists in Sicily, especially in the province of Agrigento. Among them, Mario Rizzo, who entered the program of the repented and who today enjoys 'strict protection in exchange for its cooperation with the justice system.

Last week, Deputy Prosecutor Salvatore Vella, prosecutor Alessandra Russo, and Squadra Mobile's head of Agrigento, Giovanni Minardi, flew to Liege to interview several key witnesses on the case.

Following the bust of the Assyrian crime family Y. for their involvement in large-scale cocaine trafficking in the Antwerp region, the mayor of Antwerp claims that there are at least 5 more clans they know about currently involved in the local cocaine business. This includes 3 Moroccan groups based in the Borgerhout district as well as an Albanian group.

https://www.hln.be/regio/antwerpen/-de-wever-tempert-euforie-na-oprollen-clan-y-er-zijn-nog-zeker-vijf-antwerpse-misdaadfamilies-actief~a7c96de5/

Furthermore it has been stated that the Antwerp law enforcement tends only to bust the local clans after they already hit their peak and often already quit their involvement in cocaine trafficking. It's said that the Assyrian group based around the Y. clan haven't played a role of significance in the last year. It's rumored that law enforcement had enough ammunition to bust the Y. group years ago while they were at their peak, but opted to wait instead.

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2019/02/19/gerechtsjournalist-joris-van-der-aa-rol-van-clan-y-was-al-u/

Same scenarios have been noticed with other Antwerp cocaine groups before; such as the Borgerhout-based Moroccan crime clan S. ("The Mixers"), another Borgerhout Moroccan clan Z. or the Greek group based around Eleftherios P. (the "Greek Godfather of the Sint-Paulusplaats"). In all of the cases law enforcement declined to intervene until the groups got very big. Eleftherios P. for instance wasn't put away until he got to the age of 78 even though they apparently had files on him dating back to the 80's.

TKJ are there still Irish around in Antwerp, as you know the sociologist Christy Kinahan has connections there.