Julien Moinil, Brussels’ Chief Prosecutor, was put under police protection following threats from the city’s criminal drug underworld.
The news was reported by the French-speaking public broadcaster RTBF. The Brussels public prosecutor’s office declined to comment, and Belgium’s National Crisis Centre stated that it never discussed individual cases.
Moinil has been in post for six months and has significantly intensified efforts to tackle drug-related crime and developed a strategy to curb drug-related disturbances in Brussels.
In June, a major police operation was carried out in Anderlecht’s Peterbos neighbourhood — one of the capital’s key drug trafficking hotspots. In a press conference at the time, Moinil warned that “this is only the beginning”.
Criminal gangs appeared to have taken exception to his crackdown.
According to RTBF, Moinil has received threats from the drugs cartels, which have been treated as “serious and credible”. As a result, his security has been significantly increased.
He is now permanently accompanied by bodyguards, and all his movements are carried out under police escort.
Normally, such protective measures were co-ordinated by the National Crisis Centre following risk assessments by the federal police and OCAD (the Belgian intelligence co-ordination body). No details about such security arrangements were ever made public.
The federal police also declined to provide information, stating: “For security reasons, we do not communicate about individual cases,” according to RTBF.
It was not the first time Moinil has required protection. He was placed under guard on two previous occasions while serving as a federal magistrate.
The first instance was in 2020, during an investigation into large-scale car sales fraud. The gang allegedly involved reportedly sought revenge and allegedly attempted to hire a contract killer.
In 2021, Moinil again received protection in connection with the major SKY ECC/EncroChat investigation, a landmark European investigation targeting encrypted “cryptophone” networks widely used by drug trafficking networks. According to newspaper Le Soir at the time, the Albanian mafia placed a €1 million bounty on his head during that period.
The latest threats were believed to originate from Brussels-based drugs gangs.
Moinil was not the only justice official to face such apparent danger. Late last year, an Antwerp investigative judge was forced into hiding in a safe house for several weeks after receiving similar threats from the drugs world.
Moinil appeared well aware of the risks that came with his position. In February, during an interview on Jeudi en Prime, he was asked: “Isn’t being the face of the fight against drug trafficking putting yourself in danger?”.
He replied: “The future will tell.” He added that he performed his duties “with the conviction to protect people” and was willing to “accept the consequences”.
According to the National Crisis Centre, 101 individuals were granted security protection in 2024 due to threats received while performing their professional duties. These included politicians, police officers, magistrates and judges.
In 2022, then-justice minister Vincent Van Quickenborne had to be moved to a safe house after credible intelligence suggested he was the target of a kidnapping plot by a Dutch-based drugs gang.
A car with weapons was found near his home in Kortrijk and arrests were made in the Netherlands.
In an open letter to Belgian interior minister Annelies Verlinden and Brussels Minister-President Rudi Vervoort, MEPs have expressed their “deepest concerns on the deteriorating security situation in Brussels”.@OrtwinDepo: "Change is needed in Brussels". https://t.co/4HOowIoP78
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) February 19, 2024
