3 charged as nearly 9 tonnes of cannabis seized in Wavre
Brussels federal judicial police found nearly nine tonnes of powdered cannabis in a Wavre warehouse on 12 August 2021 after it transited through Antwerp, hidden in couscous semolina bags. Three suspects were placed under arrest warrant and charged with criminal organisation and drug trafficking.
On 12 August 2021, the Brussels federal judicial police carried out several
searches in a federal prosecutor’s drug-trafficking case.[1]Officers found a
container holding nearly nine tonnes of cannabis in a warehouse at Wavre.[1]RTBF said its reporting on the find was confirmed by federal prosecution
spokesperson Wenke Roggen.[1]
The container had previously passed through the port of Antwerp.[1]The
cannabis was a brownish powder, an unusual form compared with the compressed
resin blocks or herbal cannabis usually seized.[1]It was hidden in more than
2,000 bags of durum-wheat couscous semolina stacked on about 50 wooden pallets.[1]
Investigators carried out 11 searches in Wavre, the Brussels region, Liège and
Spa, detaining several people.[1]Three arrest warrants were issued.[1]An
investigating judge charged the three suspects with participation in a criminal
organisation and drug trafficking in association.[1]
Photos and video
Seized cannabis hidden in couscous semolina bags on pallets in the Wavre warehouse. Photo: Police fédéralePhoto details
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
3
Charged
3
Cannabis
9 t
Agency type
Police, Prosecutor
Cannabis
Herbal cannabis (9 t)
Activity
Trafficking
Setting
Port or sea, Home, Other building
Case stage
Under investigation
Sources
RTBFrtbf.beFREnorme saisie de cannabis à Wavre : neuf tonnes découvertes dans un entrepôt
Open questions the AI reported
The source says nearly 9 tonnes, so 9,000 kg is an approximate figure, not a laboratory weight.
Several people were detained but only three arrest warrants were numbered, so the total number detained is unclear.
No court outcome beyond the investigating judge's charges was reported.
Only one accessible account of this seizure could be opened; no second report confirming it was found.
The article's references to an 11.5-tonne Brussels seizure in May 2020 and 15 tonnes seized nationally in 2020 are separate events left out of this report.
A prisoner at Marneffe returned from temporary leave with 7 grams of cannabis he had obtained while away. Prison guards quickly found it during a search, and the prisoner said he needed it to sleep.
Police in the Bruxelles-Ouest zone seized 13.53 kg of cannabis and 8,670 euros in cash from an apartment in Jette after stopping a scooter rider on avenue de l'Exposition, and detained two suspects handed to the Brussels prosecutor's office.
Operation ATLAS NEXUS, led by Belgium's Federal Police and co-coordinated by Frontex, EMPACT and CARICOM IMPACS across 34 countries, ended with more than 490 arrests and the seizure of 118.6 tonnes of cannabis among 156.9 tonnes of drugs. National operations included a record 104.96 tonnes of cannabis in Paraguay and 3.2 tonnes in Costa Rica.
Brussels federal judicial police seized more than 500 kg of cannabis hidden in two Canada-origin pallets declared as clothing, arresting eight people on 27 August 2026. Four were remanded under arrest warrant, with vehicles, a jammer and phones also seized as the inquiry into the import network continues.
