Ardennes: A firearms trafficking network between Belgium and France dismantled, eight people indicted

According to the Charleville-Mézières public prosecutor's office, a firearms trafficking ring between Belgium and France was dismantled this week.

Eight people were indicted on Friday, according to the public prosecutor's press release.

On Tuesday, a “large-scale legal operation” carried out in coordination between the French and Belgian authorities led to the arrest of nine people and the seizure of 178 firearms and 370 kg of ammunition, said the public prosecutor in Charleville-Mézières, Magali Josse.

Among these people are eight French people and a Belgian national arrested by the federal judicial police in Namur, Colonel Christian Robert, commander of the Reims research section, told AFP.

The seizures are “firearms of all categories, A, B, C, D, therefore weapons of war and then weapons which are simply subject to declaration,” he added.

Four people placed in pre-trial detention

The eight French people involved were presented to the investigating judge of the Charleville-Mézières judicial court on Friday for indictment, according to Magali Josse.

Four of them were placed in pre-trial detention and four others under judicial supervision, according to the same source.

The Belgian national should be presented to justice later, added Christian Robert.

This dismantling comes after reports, at the end of 2025, of “suspicious” actions of a person who “regularly” used firearms in the Ardennes.

They led to the opening of a preliminary investigation, the investigations being entrusted to the Reims research section and the Sedan research brigade, according to the prosecutor's press release.

“Links” with Belgium being “established”, a judicial investigation against

“Additional investigations” are continuing in order to establish “the provenance and traceability” of the weapons seized, said Christian Robert.