2023-09-05 12:52:00
While it is the security situation around Brussels-Midi station that is currently making the news, before that it was mainly a question of the “war on drugs” in Belgium. The tons of cocaine seized at the port of Antwerp and the resurgence of acts of violence linked to drug trafficking have even pushed the political world to create a drug police station. This coordination mission was entrusted to Ine Van Wymersch. The one who was the King’s prosecutor at the Hal-Vilvoorde prosecutor’s office received La Libre in its new premises (not yet moved in) for its first interview with the French-speaking press since she put on her new costume.
Has drug-related crime become Belgium’s security priority?
In any case, this is one of the major challenges. I think we can talk regarding Momentum, because we clearly feel a desire to act within the political, judicial and police worlds. The Sky ECC dossier demonstrated how organized criminal networks were. We thought that they were mainly active underground, but these networks increasingly want to infiltrate institutions, large companies, the banking world, the world of justice. Everyone must be on their guard because no one is immune to the risk of infiltration.
What are the sensitive sectors?
All services that have useful data for criminal organizations, so we can easily say that everyone is concerned. A person who works in an administration, the municipality, the police, the port, the airport, a hospital, a bank, a company. Everywhere.
How did we arrive at such a situation in Belgium? Why are criminal networks so interested in our country?
This is not a phenomenon that only affects Belgium, it is global. Crime knows no borders, certainly not when it comes to narcotics. Our country is of interest to criminals for many reasons. For example, our financial and banking infrastructures are highly developed and therefore attractive to criminal networks seeking to launder their money, to mix it up with a cleaner economy. There is also the presence of the port of Antwerp which undeniably remains an attractive point for drug traffickers who earn enormous amounts thanks to cocaine which is an economically stable product. Over the years, the selling price for one gram has not really decreased, but consumption is exploding. It is therefore a stable and lucrative form of investment. If a criminal wants to professionalize his structures, Belgium is an interesting country for that. This is also one of the lessons of Operation Sky ECC.
Behind the scenes of a “drug” and “alcohol” control operation: “If you tell me where to pee in a corner, I might be able to confess”
Should we conclude that Belgium has become a narco-state?
No. But we are in a critical phase, as if the alarm had been triggered following Sky ECC. We are at a key moment in which we must act to protect our democracy and the integrity of our State.
You mentioned the Sky ECC operation which made it possible to get hold of drug bigwigs, to see the extent of the trafficking. This demonstrated how sophisticated and well-established criminal networks were in fact in Belgium. Was it a trigger for justice and the police?
A click, maybe not, because we already suspected a lot of things. We suspected that there were risks, that certain employees in the municipal administrations, the police, the justice system or the banks might deliver important information to the drug traffickers in exchange for large sums of money. We suspected it, but with Sky ECC, we discovered that this form of corruption was very developed. Now we can no longer close our eyes. We have a duty of vigilance because we know how critical the situation is. And to fight once morest such a criminal phenomenon, either we will succeed together, or we will never succeed. Companies, police, justice, everyone is concerned and everyone knows that together we form links in the same chain. And it is the mission of the drug commission to ensure the proper functioning of this common mission, to bring together the various actors concerned.
But aren’t the basic problems in this war on drugs above all in Antwerp? Isn’t that where you have to work first?
The problem is all over the country. Because, I repeat, criminals do not care regarding borders. Obviously we are attentive to what is happening in and around the port of Antwerp, but there are other points of attention. Inevitably, it is easier for a trafficker to fill a container with cocaine than to load a plane in the direction of Zaventem. But we try to be vigilant everywhere, with specific angles of attack every time. Because the way to tackle the problems at the port of Antwerp is not necessarily the way to adopt in Ghent, Liège or Brussels. Each one has its specificity. In some cases, we did not wait for the creation of a drug police station to act, some cities have already adopted a series of effective approaches. And when it works well, the drug police station has no preponderant role to play. This is for example the case in Antwerp. The drug department doesn’t want to play the mother-in-law.
Are there places where it doesn’t work well?
One of the missions of the police station is to identify them in order to understand why the fight once morest drugs is not working. I am interested in effective areas to draw inspiration from them and develop methods at the national level. For example, Limburg is at the forefront when it comes to synthetic drugs. There, a lot of work is done on the basis of wastewater treatment. We realize that drugs are also a public health problem, but also an environmental problem due to wild dumping of highly toxic products. Because the production of drugs is ecologically very expensive. A working meeting was also organized with the INCC (the National Institute of Criminology and Criminalistics) to try to study the ecological footprint of the consumption of narcotics, in particular Ecstasy pills. I don’t know if young people who go to a festival and take a pill realize the impact on global pollution. I do not want to criminalize the user, but to inform him. Tell him that there is no “Fair trade cocaine”.
national commissioner for the fight once morest drugs ©cameriere ennio
The drug commissioner wants to create a “drug fund” financed through confiscations in drug trafficking networks
Don’t you think legalization and decriminalization are avenues to pursue in the war on drugs?
What is certain is that to say that legalizing cannabis will solve the problem of delinquency or drug-related violence makes no sense. We must be aware that by legalizing the thing, the State will have to take charge of the entire production chain. We will have to distribute, sell, check that the channel is not infiltrated by criminal organizations with which we would be in competition. Care must be taken not to obtain supplies from criminal networks. All this will have an extremely high cost. Do we really want taxpayers’ money to be used for this? We should also not overlook an important aspect: what type of cannabis will we potentially produce? If it’s to do something low dose, it’s unlikely to get many buyers.
Another approach is also mentioned by the Ministers of the Interior and of Justice: the “Follow the money” method, which means that it is necessary to follow the way in which money from drug trafficking circulates. How do you plan to go regarding it?
The objective is to attack the wallets of traffickers. To do this, we must see where and how the money circulates. Criminals walking around with suitcases full of money don’t exist anymore. We must therefore look in virtual systems such as cryptocurrencies, or in more closed universes such as diamonds. To carry out these missions, the tax and financial services and the police must work together more. Currently, it is as if everyone has a part of the information, but to understand these criminal systems, it is necessary to unite everything, like pieces of a puzzle to be put together. We also need more specialized investigators and specialized magistrates to put in place an effective system to seize the money. All of this is under development. I am also interested in the experiences that exist abroad.
That’s to say ?
For example in the United Kingdom, there is a reversal of evidence system. People holding large sums of money must justify the origin of their property, it is not up to the courts to do the process. Let’s take an example. That of a teenager who is seen driving a luxury car when he declares no income. If he gets caught, he’ll have to justify it. In Belgium, many mayors complain regarding the phenomenon, and we do not know how to do much. We analyze what the legal framework allows to import and develop this method.
“Whether it’s the street deal or the big drug trade, everything is linked, and we try to act on all the links in the chain”
There is nothing similar in Belgium?
In Antwerp, it is possible to do this for real estate, but the aim is to extend the practice to the whole country, but also outside our borders. Because the traffickers also have property, particularly in Spain, Albania and Morocco, which we are unable to reach.
You have a five-year term. What is, for you, a successful mission for the drug police station?
My wish is for a “drug fund” to be created and for this project to be approved by the next government. The idea is that this fund be fed by the confiscated money, by the money obtained by selling the goods of the drug traffickers. And this fund would have a clear destination: 60% for public and mental health and 40% for the police and justice for projects to fight organized crime. For the rest, my mission is very broad. I am not going to play the magistrate nor to instruct for and once morest. I have a coordination mission, like a conductor, I have to ensure that all the players involved or affected by drug-related crime talk to each other and act together. In a country as complex as Belgium, it is a difficult task, but I am really hopeful.
national commissioner for the fight once morest drugs ©cameriere ennio
1693926181
#Ine #Van #Wymersch #National #Drugs #Commissioner #critical #phase #alarm #triggered
