Ex-Belgium star arrested as part of cocaine smuggling investigation

His club found out about his arrest through media reports.

The 36-year-old won 30 caps for Belgium and is now on the books at Belgian second-tier side Lokeren-Temse.

Police detained him during an investigation into the smuggling of drugs from South America via the port of Antwerp.

According to reports, approximately 30 houses were raided in Antwerp and Brussels as part of the probe.

The Brussels public prosecutor's office said:

"The federal judicial police of Brussels carried out thirty house searches on Monday morning in the context of a file from the Organised Crime department of the Brussels public prosecutor's office. 

"The house searches mainly took place in the province of Antwerp and in Brussels.

"The investigation concerns suspected facts of importing cocaine from South America to Europe, via the port of Antwerp, and its redistribution in Belgium.

"We can confirm that the footballer RN (Radja Nainggolan) was deprived of his liberty in the context of that case.

"Given that the interrogations are underway, and in compliance with the principle of presumption of innocence, no further comment will be made at this stage."

Belgian media outlet HLN have reported that Nainggolan's lawyer Omar Souidi is supporting his client.

Lokeren-Temse learned that Nainggolan had been arrested through the press.

A club statement read: "As the investigation is still ongoing, the police services do not want to and cannot make any further comment.

"They respect the principle of presumption of innocence. As a club, we agree with this. We can only confirm that the player was absent from training this morning."

Nainggolan spent much of his career in Italy, making his first senior breakthrough with Cagliari in Serie A, before he joined Roma in 2014.

He made over 200 appearances and scored 33 goals for Roma between 2014 and 2018. He signed for Inter Milan and won the league title with them in the 2020-21 season.