large drug seizures in the port of Antwerp
NOS News•
Last week, Belgian customs seized almost nine tons of cocaine in two drug seizures. The authentic speak at the VRT of a white Christmas.
On Monday, 3.9 tons of coke was found in a shipment of bananas from Ecuador. On Wednesday, another 4.8 tons were added in a load of bananas from Panama. In addition, that same day in Vlissingen Found 1.2 tons of coke between bananas shipped via Antwerp.
The street value of all those parties is approaching 750 million euros.
white Christmas
A statement from Belgian customs says that a lot of drugs are shipped because of the holidays. “White Christmas, that is the period in which the white powder falls en masse from the sky,” says general administrator Kristian Vanderwaeren to the VRT. “I expect spectacular catches from my people in the expected weeks.”
Customs expects this year to break the record set last year with 90 tons of cocaine intercepted. This year was so busy with drug busts that the incinerators burn the large amounts of drugs couldn’t cope anymore.
For comparison: 72 tons of coke was intercepted in Rotterdam last year. For the first time in years, some finds of more than 4 tons of drugs were also made in the Dutch port.
Drug war
Much of the nuisance in Antwerp seems to be caused by criminals from the Netherlands. For example, in October “important much“The Dutch were arrested who, according to the police, took drugs from containers. A batch of 7200 kilos of cocaine that was found in February was also on its way to the Netherlands.
The influx of Dutch drug criminals has also led to a lot of violence this year, with conflicts in the underworld resulting in shootings, hand grenades and incendiary bombs. were evicted. Antwerp mayor Bart De Wever refers to a classic drug war, in which two clans meet.