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Belgian-Moroccan kickboxer Jamal Ben Saddik has been conditionally released as part of an ongoing investigation into a drug-related kidnapping.
Belgian newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen reports that the 33-year-old former world champion kickboxer was arrested in early July in connection with the alleged abduction of a 29-year-old man from Antwerp. According to the newspaper, the victim, said to be a dock worker, was reportedly kidnapped following a dispute over unfulfilled agreements concerning a drug shipment extraction.
The Belgian-Moroccan fighter was initially detained on suspicion of kidnapping with death threats, illegal weapons possession, and participation in a criminal organization. Ben Saddik has denied these allegations.
After several weeks in custody, the Court of Appeal allowed Ben Saddik to leave prison with an electronic monitoring device. Two weeks ago, the council chamber decided to release him under conditions without the ankle monitor, but the prosecution appealed. On Monday, September 11, 2024, the Court of Appeal upheld the council chamber's decision, resulting in Ben Saddik's conditional release.
This is not Ben Saddik's first encounter with legal issues. In March 2021, he was briefly imprisoned for allegedly selling encrypted phones used by criminals in the Sky ECC case. In 2022, his family's property was targeted in attacks believed to be related to a drug trade dispute. Most recently, Ben Saddik was sentenced to 40 months in prison and fined 40,000 euros for money laundering and fraud.
While never convicted of drug trafficking, Ben Saddik remains under investigation in the Sky ECC case and an inquiry into a criminal organization suspected of large-scale cocaine importation and money laundering.
The public prosecutor's office in Antwerp made the decision to conditionally release Ben Saddik two months after charges were brought against him in the kidnapping case.
