Brussels King's Prosecutor Julien Moinil says he is frustrated at having to repeat a warning he first gave eighteen months ago, after six shootings tied to the drug trade hit the city in just four days.
Moinil told reporters that any citizen can get shot, and that the violence is not going to calm down on its own. He said the shootings come in waves, but the underlying drug trafficking driving them has stayed constant throughout. Brussels recorded 102 shootings in 2025, and the city has already logged 69 so far in 2026.
Bystanders already paying the price
The prosecutor pointed to cases in which people with no connection to the drug trade were caught in the crossfire, including a father in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode left paralysed after being shot in April, and a 20-year-old man wounded in July.
Moinil renewed his call for signal jammers that would block imprisoned gang leaders from using smuggled phones to coordinate operations, including contract killings, from inside their cells. He also flagged serious staffing shortfalls behind the scenes, saying his own office is not at full strength and that the Brussels federal judicial police are short 80 detectives.
Prime Minister Bart De Wever has scheduled a security coordination meeting in response to the violence, as pressure builds on the federal government to address both the shootings and the trafficking networks behind them.