In Antwerp, an endless war on drugs
For the Antwerp police, this summer was in no way a vacation period. Almost every day, the media reported incidents related to organized crime, episodes that were then investigated by the federal judicial police, and several suspects were apprehended.
But the local police also find themselves overloaded with work. “When there are incidents that terrorize a neighborhood, our teams will discuss with local residents,” says Wouter Bruyns, spokesman for the Antwerp police. The role of the local police is also to collect information, in particular by carrying out checks.
The world of drug trafficking, which normally remains largely invisible, came to light this summer, and even moved to the city center. We do not yet know what was the trigger for the recent series of attacks, comments criminologist Charlotte Colman, from the University of Ghent. But the incidents at the start of the summer were linked to lost shipments. “Apart from these considerations, she adds, the motivations behind these attacks are always the same” :
“Intimidation, warnings or retaliation”.
Since 2014, 183 acts of violence supposedly linked to drug trafficking in Antwerp have been named: intimidation, threats, explosions, grenade attacks, firing of fireworks at homes or people, kidnappings and even murders.
Criminologist Steven Debbaut (University of Ghent) adds another factor: the aftermath of Operation Sky. In March 2021, Belgian, French and Dutch police successfully lifted Sky ECC messaging encryption, allowing them to read some 80 million messages over the shoulder of criminals. This operation constituted a gigantic slap in the face and destabilized the networks. “When you start rescuing the system, the violence increases”, explains Steven Debbaut.
Gold medal
To sum up the problem, the world of drug trafficking is vast, has a lot of means and money and does not feel “forced” not to respect any rules – unlike the federal judicial police, responsible for the fight against crime. organized, which is held there.
The phrase “war on drugs”, or “war on drugs”, further suggest that a final victory would be possible. But such a war is hard to win. Crime cannot be eradicated, says Teun Voeten in his book Drugs. Antwerpen in de greep van Nederlandse syndicaten [“Drogues : Anvers sous l’emprise des cartels néerlandais”, non traduit en français]. He calls this fight “hybrid war against a multidimensional criminal complex linked to drug trafficking” – Corn “war on drugs” definitely sounds better.
Belgium is the main gateway for drug trafficking in Europe, notes Europol: a gold medal that our country would have done well without. In this painting, Antwerp acts as a hub for cocaine smugglers, and gangsters from the port city have managed to fight their way to