2023-09-25 05:00:00
“Drug trafficking is the scourge, the cancer that undermines the life of our neighborhoods“, recently lamented the mayor of Anderlecht Fabrice Cumps. Score-settling between gangs, intimidatory shootings and even murders against a backdrop of territorial wars: it is true that recent news has accustomed us to extreme violence linked to narcotics market. Just last week, a 31-year-old young man was shot dead with a weapon of war while he was driving his car on one of the busiest streets in the city. commune of Anderlecht and it was not necessary to wait for the murder to be attributed to a settling of scores in the drug scene (even if it cannot be ruled out that the perpetrators had the wrong target). is not the only one: since the start of the year, according to the judicial authorities, at least 9 murders have been committed in Brussels alone. So we wanted to understand in 5 questions what this bloody and lucrative business looks like underground market.
1. What drugs are we talking about?
Cannabis and cocaine, above all. This does not mean that other substances are not sold, but we are not in the same proportions. “There’s a little bit of everything”, explains the National Drugs Commissioner, Ine Van Wymersch. “There is cocaine. Here in Belgium, it is mainly Albanian clans with Italian and French links who take care of the preparation of cocaine for domestic consumption or for export to the rest of Europe. Then there are also Moroccan clans who are more targeted towards cannabis. We have a little crack or heroin. But to a lesser extent“.
2. In what quantity?
It is obviously impossible to answer the question precisely. What is known is the quantity of drugs seized at the port of Antwerp and from there, estimates are made. Thus, according to the FPS Finance, in charge of customs, several hundred tonnes of cocaine arrive here each year in containers. “It is estimated that 10% of what arrives in Antwerp is intercepted“, deciphers Florence Angelici, spokesperson for SPF finance. “However, 110 tonnes were seized there last year. This means that we would exceed 1000 tonnes of cocaine over a year. at the port of Antwerp.
Of course, we don’t only find cocaine in Antwerp. But other drugs are not found in comparable quantities. Last year, 3 tonnes of cannabis were seized and just over a tonne of heroin.
Other interesting statistics are those from the federal police. We can see the seizures made in Belgium, for the wholesale market (seizures of more than 500 grams). In 2021, 14 tonnes of cannabis were seized and 96 tonnes of cocaine. As well as a ton and a half of heroin. This data does not mean much in itself (it reflects police activity more than the market), but it does show the predominance of the two main drugs.
3. Are there more drugs than before?
As far as cocaine is concerned, it is indisputable.
There were 110 tonnes seized in 2022, 90 the previous year, and 65 the year before that. In 5 years, the quantity seized would have almost tripled. How can we be sure that the statistics do not just reflect controls that have become more efficient? “There are both”, explains Florence Angelici. “Customs works well but there are more and more drugs coming through. It’s undeniable“.
The port of Antwerp and that of Rotterdam are also the two European ports where cocaine seizures are, by far, the largest (Antwerp in the lead). “Because we are in the center of Europe and we historically have direct fruit lines with Latin America“.
The federal police are also seizing more and more cocaine. 96 tonnes were seized in Belgium in 2021. This is 26 tonnes more than the previous year and three times more than five years ago.
4. Why this “success”?
The port of Antwerp offers many advantages for traffickers. Besides the central location in Europe, there is also the size of the country: in less than two hours you are in another country. And then there are these historic fruit lines with Latin America: “Fruits are interesting”, explains Florence Angelici. “Because we can’t keep them for long. These are goods that must go quickly otherwise they rot. And then the port of Antwerp is difficult to monitor, it is the same size as Paris with roads, villages.” All these assets explain why the port of Antwerp has become the preferred European port for traffickers.
5. Where do drugs come from?
Cocaine therefore arrives mainly by boat in containers, from Latin America. Still according to customs statistics, last year, cocaine mainly came from three countries: Panama, Colombia and Ecuador.
There is also cocaine which arrives by plane, transported by mules (people who carry or ingest pellets of drugs) and that which arrives by parcel because it was ordered on the Darkweb (even if this importation method works more for synthetic drugs). We are talking about smaller quantities here, but nonetheless not negligible. “She comes from everywhere actually“, summarizes the spokesperson.
Cannabis comes mainly from Morocco, but not only. The modes of transport for cannabis are more varied, which would explain the lower quantity intercepted in Antwerp.
6. Why Brussels?
There are therefore more and more drugs in Belgium and some of them are transported to Brussels.
“Brussels is a drug distribution center”, delivered this week Eric Jacobs, director of the federal judicial police of Brussels, in the columns of Standaard. “Drugs are processed and packaged here, among other places, and distributed on the local and international market. The anonymity of the big city is an important asset for drug gangs. All the specialists that criminals need are here – from bankers to cryptocurrency experts. You can easily bring hitmen from Albania, it only costs 5000 euross”.
The Drugs Commissioner does not say anything else. “Brussels is a logistics hub in the legal world. And the criminal world still enjoys the advantages of the legal world. So it is no surprise that large cities like Brussels, Antwerp and Liège are faced with a problem of organized crime.“, analysis Ine Van Wymersch.
7. What role does Brussels play?
In Brussels, therefore, we process, we cut and we distribute cocaine. “In Brussels, we consume and we transform. There is the Belgian market which must be supplied, but the world market also expects the products which come from Brussels”. So some of the processed drug stays there. And the other goes abroad.
8. Who traffics in Brussels?
The second knives. The leaders are rather located abroad, in Albania in particular, for Cocaine. “The gangs, the clans which are active in Brussels, are not always found at the highest level of the chain”. According to the Commissioner, this would contribute to the great violence that is occurring. “The means they use are also less “refined”. If we go higher in the network hierarchy, we see less public violence“.
For these gangs, defending territory is fundamental. “The territory is very expensive in Brussels. It’s really a war of rival gangs to occupy as much land as possible. Because they make a lot of money“.
In the interview he gave to Standaard, Eric Jacobs explained the mechanism : “The more gangs enter the market, the more drugs there are and the cheaper they are. Profits fall. That’s why territory is so important to gangs.”
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