European Central: Antwerp, Europe's Top Destination For Cocaine Smuggling
Westend61
Only an hour train ride from Brussels, the capital of the European Union and Belgium, Antwerp is facing a crisis. Antwerp has become the most important city in Europe for the smuggling of cocaine. In 2020, a record 65.5 tons of cocaine was seized from the port in Antwerp. This is even higher than the amount seized in 2019 when 61.8 tons were seized which represented a 660 percent increase in cocaine seized since 2014. In 2013, only 4 tons of cocaine were seized in the port. Due to the illegal nature of cocaine smuggling, Belgian authorities are alarmed by the increasing amount of cocaine found each year at the port as they know it is possibly only a small portion of the cocaine that actually arrives in Antwerp. On March 9th, over 1500 police officers participated in 200 searches as part of an operation that started at 5 a.m. targeting cocaine smuggling. Eric Van Duyse, a spokesperson for Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office said this operation is a result of an investigation that took place over 2 and a half years.
Less Trade Yet More Cocaine
Like many countries, Belgium saw a decrease in trade as the world’s economy slowed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. While it would be logical to think cocaine smuggling would slow as well, the opposite happened. Smugglers took more risks and instead of putting smaller amounts among multiple shipments of legitimate goods headed towards Antwerp, smugglers started shipping larger quantities of cocaine in one shipment. This has led to record-breaking seizures.
A large portion of cocaine headed towards Antwerp originates from Latin America, in particular from Brazil. Antwerp’s position is clear not only to authorities in Europe, but also cocaine producers in Latin America. Out of the 63 tons of cocaine that were seized in Latin America in 2019, 31 tons were going to be shipped to Antwerp. Antwerp has become the largest destination for cocaine smuggling in Europe due to a large number of legitimate goods shipped to Antwerp from Latin America. In 2017, Antwerp was the top port for bananas coming from Latin America. Over half of the cocaine seized that year was in containers used to ship the bananas from Colombia, Peru, and Brazil. As the production of cocaine has skyrocketed in Latin America, smugglers are no longer trying to hide cocaine as they did in the past.
Why Antwerp has become Europe’s Cocaine Smuggling Hub
Antwerp has become the largest destination for cocaine smuggling in Europe due to a large number of legitimate goods headed to Antwerp from Latin America. In 2017, Antwerp was the top port for bananas coming from Latin America. Over half of the cocaine seized that year was in containers used to ship the bananas from Colombia, Peru, and Brazil. As the production of cocaine has skyrocketed in Latin America, smugglers are no longer trying to hide cocaine as they did in the past. This rise in production has also led freelance shippers, to use smaller shippers outside of the usual distribution routes of drug cartels.
The physical layout of the port in Antwerp has also helped make it the top destination for smuggling cocaine into Europe. The port is spread out over 30,000 acres and directly borders roads accessible to the public. Some warehouses used to store goods shipped to the port are outside the restricted area of the port and even in the Netherlands. This makes it difficult to control the importation of Cocaine into the port of Antwerp when it is then stored in warehouses under two different national authorities. In addition, drug traffickers have been able to hack into computer systems at the port, which has aided in the ability of traffickers to smuggle cocaine into the port and unload it without detection.
Rotterdam is Europe’s busiest container port and the city is the location of several criminal organizations, but the port is not used for smuggling as much as the port in Antwerp for several reasons. The port in Rotterdam is much more compact and smaller in size than the port in Antwerp. However, due to Antwerp being close to Rotterdam, Antwerp Mayor Bart De Wever believes this has led to the popularity of Antwerp’s port for smuggling. In 2018, it was reported that 80 percent of the cocaine that arrived in Antwerp is then brought to the Netherlands. Mayor De Wever clearly blames Dutch criminals for the spread of the drug trade and the crisis that has erupted in Antwerp.
Apart from cocaine, officials are concerned about other ways criminals may use the port in Antwerp. Besides cocaine, weapons and other contraband can be smuggled into Antwerp. Antwerp has also seen a spike in violence due to drug trafficking. Gun battles and grenade attacks have occurred between rival gangs. In August of 2020, Antwerp saw six violent incidences in six days. The sixth incident happened at The Past House, an Italian restaurant that was rarely open according to locals and had an unfinished website that did not display a menu. One of the other incidences involved a machine gun shooting that targeted a home owned by relatives of a convicted cocaine trafficker. The day before that, a grenade exploded on the doorstep of a building near the same home.
Corruption Fueling The Smuggling
Cocaine smuggling in Belgium has also relied on corrupt police officers. The largest overseas cocaine bust not only in Belgian history but worldwide was 11.5 tons of cocaine confiscated, worth 900 million euros. Belgian authorities were successful in catching this shipment in Antwerp due to the disbandment of a gang led by a former Belgian counternarcotics chief who attempted to smuggle this large shipment from Guyana. A port manager and lawyer were arrested as well.
Besides authorities caving into the temptation of trafficking rather than working to stop it, corruption is evident among private citizens as well. Citizens receiving welfare benefits have been able to buy up real estate. Young entrepreneurs under the age of 30 have been able to renovate banquet halls and clad them in marble.
Jurisdiction Complications
In order to crack down on smuggling into Antwerp’s port, Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne wants to eliminate the jurisdiction problems. Currently, the port is under the jurisdiction of Antwerp and East Flanders. This complicates the ability to investigate the smuggling and prosecuting those involved due to there being a public prosecutor over each jurisdiction, along with separate courts and judges. These jurisdiction challenges would disappear if a new jurisdiction is created. Justice Minister Quickenborne has proposed to place the port under the authority of a port prosecutor who would be responsible for all investigations involving the port. Quickenborne also proposes to streamline the process of issuing port bans. This would revoke the right of access to the port from those prosecuted for drug-related offenses. This would resolve the problems regarding the separate jurisdictions in Belgium, but more work needs to be done to coordinate with prosecutors in the Netherlands. Not only because of the role Dutch criminal organizations play but due to the warehouses near Antwerp’s port yet located in the Netherlands.
