ROME — Belgian police said they arrested Radja Nainggolan, an ex-Cagliari, Roma, Inter Milan, and Piacenza midfielder currently toiling in Belgium's second-tier football league, on charges of trafficking cocaine from South America through Antwerp's port, police said.  

 Federal police took Nainggolan into custody on the morning of Jan. 27, after launching 30 drug-busting raids around Antwerp, Brussels, and the cities' peripheries, they said. 

 "To respect the principle of innocent until proven guilty," said Belgian judicial sources, "further details will not be released at this point." 

 Of Belgian and Tunisian heritage, Nainggolan played 11 years of Serie A football before moving in 2021 to Belgium's Jupiler Pro League, the country's first division. Royal Antwerp suspended Nainggolan indefinitely in 2022 after the midfielder was arrested for driving with an expired license and smoked an electronic cigarette on a match's sidelines. 

 Nainggolan spent his next two seasons playing football in Indonesia and Belgium's B-league. His non-football ventures include RADLab, a company which "brew[s] magic with private jets, yachts and villas for our handpicked members of the sports and entertainment scene." 

 RADLab investor Ibrahim Ahmadoun pled guilty in United States federal court in 2016 to smuggling 1,000 kilograms of cocaine through Antwerp customs on behalf of Hezbollah. 

 "Just because you made a mistake in the past doesn't mean you have to pay the price for a lifetime," Nainggolan said at the time.