Like every year in January, the Belgian and Dutch authorities take stock of drug trafficking in the two kingdoms. This trafficking is constantly increasing and the two countries announce new records in 2023 with the increase in cocaine seizures at the top of the podium. An increase in seizures which creates concern.
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With our correspondent in Brussels, Pierre Bénazet
The year 2022 had already been a record year for drug trafficking in Belgium and the Netherlands, but 2023 beats all these records hands down with 175 tonnes of cocaine seized in the two countries. Both countries are the scene of cocaine trafficking involving the same cartels and criminal networks and the two governments are trying to combat this scourge together. At the port of Antwerp in Belgium alone, 116 tonnes of cocaine were discovered by customs officers.
The drug comes fromEcuador, Panama and especially Colombia. To increase traffic, arrivals are now distributed to other, less important ports, which is why the Belgians and Batavians held their joint press conference this year in the port of Vlissingen, in Zeeland.
An increase in violence
The increase in trafficking is accompanied by an increase in violence with numerous deaths recorded, especially in the Netherlands where criminal networks have also attacked lawyers and journalists. They even made threats against the Prime Minister and Crown Princess of the Netherlands as well as the Belgian Minister of Justice.
Scanners, underwater robots, drones and intelligent cameras are deployed in large numbers by customs officers in both countries, but the authorities fear they have only seized a fraction of the drugs.
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