By Charlotte Van Campenhout
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Former Belgian national football team player and current Lokeren-Temse midfielder Radja Nainggolan has been arrested in connection with an investigation into cocaine trafficking from South America to Europe, a source close to the investigation said on Monday.
The cocaine was allegedly trafficked through the Port of Antwerp, the Brussels Public Prosecutor’s Office said in an official statement, adding that thirty house searches had been carried out on Monday as part of the probe. As per Belgian practice, the statement did not name Nainggolan, giving only his initials and profession.
Nainggolan’s lawyer, Omar Souidi, stated that the football star would remain in jail overnight as the examining magistrate would continue the questioning on Tuesday morning. He added that his client is a professional footballer, not a criminal, denying his client’s involvement.
The arrest was earlier reported by local media, which also said that about a dozen people had been arrested in the probe.
Nainggolan’s management team did not immediately reply to Reuters’ request for comment.
Nainggolan’s club Lokeren-Temse said in a statement that the player was absent from training on Monday morning. The club added it respected the presumption of innocence and declined to comment further.
Last year, former Dutch international Quincy Promes was sentenced to six years in prison in absentia by a Dutch court for his involvement in smuggling of 1,360 kg (3,000 pounds) of cocaine through the Belgian port to the Netherlands in two shipments in 2020.
(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
