Fmr. pro basketball player's Antwerp restaurant torched; Suspects caught in the NL

A restaurant burned down in the Middelheim district of Antwerp, Belgium during the overnight hours, authorities said on Christmas morning. The restaurant was reportedly owned by Willy Steveniers, former professional basketball player who won the Belgian League's player of the year award four times, and was handed a lifetime achievement award in 2019. The suspects in the case were quickly caught across the Dutch border

A loud blast was first heard, and then a fire was reported soon after, Belgian police said. The entire ground floor of the building went up in flames. Recently, a suspicious vehicle with a Dutch license plate was investigated near the restaurant.

When a fire was reported in the building a little while later, the police immediately assumed there was a connection. The car was tracked down in the Netherlands, and the occupants of the vehicle were apprehended.

Vrolijk kerstfeest vanuit #Antwerpen… Op kerstavond brandde het bekende restaurant ‘De Nachtegaal’ af na een aanslag door de drugsmaffia. Het drugsgerelateerd geweld gaat van kwaad naar erger. De overheid krijgt geen vat op de drugsmaffia-oorlog. #DrugsUitDeWijkUitDeStad pic.twitter.com/Jdq4aRUq09

— Filip Dewinter (@FDW_VB) December 25, 2023

Police in the Netherlands and Belgium have not yet released biographical details of the suspects, nor where the arrest took place. It is also not yet possible to say whether they were really involved in the fire. When asked, the Dutch police refused to provide more information about the arrest, and referred questions to the authorities in Antwerp.

Belgian police said they believed there was a connection to the criminal underworld and drug trafficking. Flemish media called it an attack, and said that it involved a restaurant owned by Steveniers called De Nachtegaal, or The Nightingale, in English. One of the 85-year-old's sons was reportedly named in a Belgian criminal case involving drugs.

Nathan Steveniers, together with the Dutch criminal "Bolle Jos" Leijdekkers, is said to have imported large quantities of cocaine through the Antwerp port.