A kickboxer has been jailed for four years for his role in the kidnapping of a dockworker, dealing a brutal blow to his once high flying career.
Jamal Ben Saddik was hit with the toughest sentence of all the defendants after months of legal turmoil, with the court branding him the ringleader.
The 35-year-old Belgian Moroccan heavyweight, formerly ranked in the global top ten, was tied to a plot in which a dockworker was allegedly forced into a car at gunpoint.
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Reports say the kidnapping was meant to pressure the victim into helping smugglers move cocaine shipments through the port.
He refused to cooperate and was later freed after his sister alerted police, as reported by Need To Know.
During the ordeal, the dockworker’s home was allegedly raided and ransacked, ramping up the severity of the charges.
Investigators concluded the operation was linked to drug trafficking.
On Tuesday (9 December), Jamal was sentenced at Antwerp court to four years behind bars.
Three other defendants were handed prison terms ranging from 30 months to four years.
The fighter maintains he has done nothing wrong, accusing the court of painting a misleading picture of him.
A spokesperson for Jamal Ben Saddik said the conviction was based on “a single statement without any supporting evidence”.
It is not his first run in with the law.
In June he received a 40 month sentence, half suspended, for money laundering.
Kickboxing organisation Glory previously banned him for six months after he kicked Rico Verhoeven following a bout with Nabil Khachab.
Jamal has also been suspended in the past for doping.
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