Belgium arrests six Britons in Airbnb drug ring bust

Belgium authorities said on Sunday six British men have been arrested as part of an international ring that used Airbnb properties to store smuggled cocaine.

The six suspects, all from London and aged between 25 and 43, were apprehended this week and remain in custody while an investigation is carried out, the national prosecutor’s service said in a statement.

They were arrested when police “dismantled a British criminal organisation allegedly involved in international and large-scale drug trafficking”.

The gang allegedly smuggled large consignments of cocaine into the port of Belgium’s northern city of Antwerp then “used homes rented though Airbnb and Booking.com” as safe houses and to store the drugs, the statement said.

At one rented property in Kalmthout, a rural area just north of Antwerp, police found 580 kilos of cocaine. In another, at Sint-Niklaas village, west of Antwerp, 98 taped-up packages of cocaine were found in suitcases.

rmb/bp