Belgium Seeks to Prosecute 3 Dutch Nationals in 2022 Minister Kidnap Plot
The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office is seeking to prosecute three Dutch nationals for the attempted kidnapping of former Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne, reversing a 2024 decision that found insufficient evidence, as VRT NWS reported on Tuesday.
The case, which dates back to September 2022, involves six Dutch suspects allegedly linked to drug trafficking networks. Following new evidence uncovered during a supplementary investigation requested by Van Quickenborne’s lawyer, prosecutors now argue that three of the six should face charges of attempted kidnapping (poging gijzelneming) before the correctional court.
Background: A Narrowly Avoided Abduction
On 22 September 2022, then-Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne was informed by federal prosecutor Frédéric Van Leeuw of a “very concrete threat” against his life. An emergency meeting was convened at the Crisis Centre in Brussels, and police patrols were dispatched to secure his villa in Kortrijk, as BBC News reported at the time.
That same evening, police stopped a vehicle with Dutch license plates containing three men near the minister’s home. The men were checked and released. The following morning, a resident alerted police to a second suspicious vehicle parked near Van Quickenborne’s property. Inside, officers discovered an automatic rifle, two handguns, plastic zip ties, and bottles of gasoline, according to a VRT NWS reconstruction.
The vehicle was traced to the men stopped the previous night. Van Quickenborne and his family were immediately moved to a safehouse. Four Dutch nationals were arrested within days, and two more suspects — allegedly the masterminds — were arrested in early 2023. The Associated Press reported that Van Quickenborne described the plot as the work of the “drugs mafia.”
A Reversal After New Evidence
In August 2024, the federal prosecutor’s office determined there was insufficient evidence to charge the six suspects with attempted kidnapping, citing an inability to prove which individuals specifically planned the abduction. Only charges of illegal weapons possession and criminal organization membership were pursued.
Van Quickenborne and his lawyer, Jan Leysen, requested a supplementary investigation. “We were surprised by this decision,” Leysen told VRT NWS in August 2024. “First he had to go into hiding, then they find weapons and zip ties nearby, and then the prosecutor wants to drop the charges. With the additional investigation, we would like to know how that turn came about.”
Now, nearly two years later, the supplementary investigation has yielded new evidence. The federal prosecutor’s office confirmed to VRT NWS: “For three of them, we are requesting referral for attempted kidnapping. For two of them, we are also requesting referral for participation in a criminal organization, and the third suspect as a leading figure in a criminal organization. The other three are suspected of membership in a criminal organization; they are not suspected of attempted kidnapping.”
Legal Proceedings and Implications
The case was heard before the council chamber (raadkamer) on 2 June 2026, which will decide whether to refer the six suspects to the correctional court for trial, as The Brussels Times reported.
The development marks a significant turn in a case that has highlighted the escalating threat posed by drug trafficking organizations to high-ranking officials in Belgium and the Netherlands. Van Quickenborne, who served as Justice Minister from 2020 to 2023 under Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, had aggressively targeted drug networks, signing treaties with the United Arab Emirates to enable the capture of drug kingpins and overseeing hundreds of arrests based on decrypted communications from encrypted phone networks like Sky ECC.
Cross-Border Crime Challenge
The involvement of Dutch nationals and the location of arrests in the Netherlands underscore the cross-border nature of organized crime in the Benelux region. The suspects initially refused extradition to Belgium, complicating the early stages of the investigation. NOS reported that the four initially arrested were men aged 20, 21, 29, and 48 at the time, all linked to the drug milieu.
What’s Next
The council chamber’s decision will determine whether the case proceeds to trial. A ruling in favor of prosecution would send a strong signal that Belgian authorities are prepared to pursue high-level organized crime figures operating across borders, even when cases require years of investigation. The identities of the suspects have not been publicly released in accordance with Dutch privacy norms.