Van Quickenborne from safehouse: “I will not give up, we will continue the fight”
Van Quickenborne is hiding in a secret location with his wife and two children after an attempt to kidnap him was thwarted at his home in Kortrijk. Four Dutch suspects with ties to the drug environment have since been arrested.
“Struggle Continues”
“The battle continues unabated,” Vincent Van Quickenborne told Focus and WTV. “The fact that they are cornered, I will never be intimidated by those mobsters.”
It is especially hard for the minister that his children and wife also have to undergo this. “As a minister you often have to deal with these kinds of threats. I was once threatened with death, had to live under police protection for a while, but my family did not choose this.”
Yet the minister never expected this. “I did not become Minister of Justice with the idea that I might one day be kidnapped. In recent days I have often asked myself why me and why now.” The minister refers to the Sky ECC case from November 2020, which has accelerated everything. At that time, hundreds of people could be arrested in our country and, according to the minister, more than 13 billion euros worth of drugs were intercepted in Antwerp.
“Don’t behave differently”
It is unclear how long the minister and his family will have to live in hiding. “I adapt to the advice of the security people. They know what is right now. But I will certainly not behave differently. I have no problem showing that those people cannot go about their business with impunity. We will stay fighting those criminals,” says Van Quickenborne.
“Going to the bakery alone on Sunday is over as long as I am Minister of Justice.”
Most concrete kidnapping attempt
The plans for Minister Van Quickenborne were very concrete. In the Netherlands, situations have already happened in the drug environment. For example, a lawyer and a crime journalist were murdered.
When asked whether we will also enter this new phase with us, the minister reacts combatively: “What I am experiencing has been a reality for certain magistrates and police officers for years. These people are daily in the line of fire for all citizens. They also receive the necessary security. 200 people are under security in our country. We are doing everything we can to protect them. But it is up to me as Minister of Justice to take up that fight. I will not give up.”