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Three times more investigators on Brabant Killers case

22:30 06/02/2018

Belgium is putting extra resources behind the investigation into the Brabant Killers - who murdered 28 people in violent robberies on supermarkets in the early 1980s.

Federal justice minister Koen Geens said the investigative team would be increased from 11 to 30, after receiving 800 fresh pieces of information in recent months.

Liège prosecutor-general Christian De Valkeneer has stepped down as head of the investigative team and responsibility for the case has been passed to the federal prosecutor to allow for better co-ordination.

Patricia Finne, whose father was killed by the gang, said: "Until not long ago, for several years, there were only two people working on the investigation. Now having 30 people reviewing the case is indeed a good thing."

Late October, Christiaan Bonkoffsky - a former gendarme, who died two years ago - was named by a relative as the potential gang leader, nicknamed "the giant".

Since then, investigators have received 800 additional pieces of information, 470 of which have been deemed worthy of further attention.

Although new evidence in the 30-year-old case comes to light every few years, none of the gang have ever been positively identified by authorities. In 2015, parliament voted in favour of extending the statue of limitations on the case, which was to end that year. Any suspects can now still be convicted until 2025.

Photo: Belga Photo Archives