The Unusual Suspects

Who is Belgium's Keyser Soze aka \"NWA\" and do the authorities have the right person in their sights? For the better part of 4 years, the streets of Antwe1p have been the backdrop to the impo1iation and expo1iation of tens of thousands of kilograms of prohibited narcotics, as well as, deadly weapomy and explosives. Following various aITests of over 50 professional criminals, the Belgian authorities have scrambled to bring to justice a key figme - someone that they can parade around as a mastermind only brought down by the diligent hard work of the Federal Police and Prosecutors . The skin-saving criminals,several of which caught red-handed in the act of attempting to transpo1i200kg's of cocaine,have all attempted to downplay their role in these crimes and place the blame with the kingpin of it all...\"NWA\". Much like the legenda1y villain Keyser Soze from B1yan Singer's 1995 cult-classic The Usual Suspects, \"NWA\" is pmpo1iedly a crime lord who rose up from the streets and now controls one of the region's largest organised crime syndicates.

2 Following the 13Januaiy 2020 aiTests of Aziz K. and Zaffer T. who were two of several individuals caught in the act of transpo1iing 200kg's of cocaine in a hangar in Bomem, Klein Mechelen 13, the Investigating Magistrate instrncted officers to place the two men into a 'tapped' cell. Over the course of the next several weeks, the two criminals beginning telling a tale of a rnthless leader, who mercilessly orders attacks of enemies and disloyal henchmen alike. They talk of \"NWA\" having others cany out his business dealings, and whilst others may have committed the crimes, it was all at his behest. Chief among those most loyal to NWA and othe1wise known as his right-hand and lieutenant, is \"HALO\". With this infonnation, the authorities hang their hats on their theo1y of who NWA is. They land on Nordin El H. The media ensues upon unravelling the life and sto1y of Nordin El H. and, much like Keyser Soze, he is of mixed Middle-Eastern & European descent, and seemingly worked his way up from a small-time diug dealer to a rnthless crime lord littering the streets of Antwe1p with grenades and bullets. The similarities do not stop there: Nordin El H. does not get his hands dirty either, quite the opposite, he remains above the chaos in Dubai where he has been since at least2016. It all seems to fit. Except Aziz K. and Zaffer T. have since adinitted to the police that they knew the cell was bugged and invented a sto1y, seemingly with a motive to save their own skin and lay the blame elsewhere. It stands to reason that if these two knew they were being recorded, the real boss would look favourably upon them for inventing a nanative distinguishing the as the real crime lord and this \"NWA\" villain. Whoever the real boss may be, the nanative ce1tainly places the overall responsibility and blame of the crimes on \"NWA\" and not themselves. What we do know about the chain of command regai·ding Aziz K. to Zaffer T. is that it is Zaffer 's younger brother, Memet T, is their boss. Who his boss is, and ifthere is one, perhaps is not as clear as the authorities want us to believe. AZIZ ERHAN M EMET ZAFFER K 1 1 1

3 Much like in The Usual Suspects, the suspects themselves all stand to benefit from building up the role of a villain; a crime lord, who ordered them to do terrible things; and to accuse each other of being that villain. The prosecution agencies seemingly cannot help but salivate at that prospect of an even bigger fish being out in the ocean, when in fact the one they are looking for is already in their hands. The evidence that NWA is in fact Nordin El H. is seemingly based on the words of two criminals who later admitted to lying, and the evidence of a man who accused Nordin El H. of kidnapping his son, only to also admit to lying a week later. Unlike the men in The Usual Suspects, and the men arrested in the hanger in Bornem, Nordin El H. is only connected to these crimes on the word of apprehended criminals. Much like the detectives in the 1995 classic, will they be too late in realising that perhaps one of those ready to point the finger at someone not in the picture as the crime lord, is the crime lord themselves. NWA may be the boss, but has his identity truly been revealed? The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist.