Six men, all from Brussels and known to prosecutors on drug files, have been arrested over the fatal shooting of Belgian police officer Nordine El Talbi, 41, in Jette. Prosecutor Julien Moinil announced it on Sunday. They are suspects, not convicts. One is a minor. Who fired has not been established.

El Talbi was shot in the head on the night of 12-13 October after a chase of a car taken by force in Tubize. He died in hospital. The car was found the same day in Jette. Inside it, the prosecutor said, were drugs and three weapons. Five of those held are said to have been in that vehicle. Each person's role, including the shooter's, is still being worked: DNA and ballistics remain open.

Three were caught in Almería, southern Spain, by the Guardia Civil with Belgian help. Moinil said they were, in all likelihood, heading for Morocco. One was stopped at a Paris station on a European warrant. Two are held in Belgium. Brussels wants those in France and Spain handed over. Spain's Audiencia Nacional in Madrid must rule on the three from Almería.

VRT and La Libre match the same briefing: five adults, one minor, all Belgian citizens from Brussels. Charges discussed by the prosecutor include murder of a person with a public function and belonging to a gang. That is an investigative frame, not a verdict. Moinil did not describe how they were found, so as not to harm the file.

A minor in a group of suspects is not named here. The presumption of innocence holds for all six. Flight across a border, if proved, does not replace proof of who pulled the trigger.

The officer is dead. Six people are in custody in three countries. Until extradition and ballistics, the file is open. Arrest is not conviction, and a prosecutor's briefing is not a court.

Image: HJ Mitchell, police vehicles in Brussels, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; an archive, not the scene in Jette.

Sources consulted: Six fugitive suspects arrested over shooting of a police officer in Belgium - NOS; 6 suspects arrested over murder of police officer Nordine El Talbi - VRT NWS.