Houssière Wood

Several testimonies indicate that the Bois de la Houssière was the operating ground of the Bende van Nijvel. They may have driven here after the attack in Aalst. There is a theory that one of the gang members was shot by a police officer from Aalst, and that here in the forest the wounded gang member was finished off with a mercy shot. This would be linked to the discovery in the Bois de la Houssière of two bullet heads and casings. Witnesses claimed they spotted a Golf GTI there on the night of November 9 to 10, 1985, around 00:30. Furthermore: two men and a lifeless body on the ground.

“The discovery of the ammunition makes us think of an execution,” says Vos. “Relieving the leader of his suffering. And buried elsewhere.”

The night after the raid, around 00:40, two witnesses in Ronquières, near the forest, see men throwing bags into the Brussels-Charleroi canal. A year later, the Delta team retrieves them, and it turns out to be parts of the gang's loot and gang weapons. That same night, a burning Golf GTI belonging to the gang is found in the forest. It was set on fire at 01:40, an hour after the bags were dumped in the canal.

Dromos