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| Belgian police in action |
30 citizens, members of an Albanian criminal gang, have been arrested during an international police operation in Belgium.
Belgian media say police in Antwerp raided 17 apartments where weapons, cocaine, money, luxury watches, diamonds, and vehicles were seized.
Police operations took place at the same time in several other European countries. Dozens of people were arrested during about 60 house searches in Spain, Italy, Germany, Croatia and the Netherlands.
"It was the discovery of a new criminal world throughout the territory of Brussels, which so far has managed to remain largely invisible," said Eric Jacobs, director of the Brussels Federal Judicial Police.
According to the federal prosecutor, the investigation uncovered a criminal organization, whose members came mainly from Eastern Europe and lived in Brussels, but also had its operational bases in the Antwerp region, mostly near the port.