The Belgian government introduced on Thursday measures From checks on port workers to heavy fines for users, to fighting the growing drug trafficking and violence in the Port of Antwerp.
The package aims to “make drug trafficking physically difficult, economically unprofitable, and also reduce the demand for drugs,” said Prime Minister Alexander de Crew.
Drug-related violence is on the rise across Belgium – and particularly in the city of Antwerp, home to the country’s largest port, and where a young girl dead Last month at a shoot.
The violence has now “reached the stage of narco-terrorism, where the underworld is now increasingly turning to the ‘upper world’, threatening and infiltrating people. And this is happening in Antwerp…but We also see more and more incidents everywhere in the country. It’s not just about cocaine, it’s about XTC laboratories; we’re also seeing revenge killings in Liège and elsewhere,” Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborn he said.
The government’s measures include a police presence in ports and a ramp-up of the scanning infrastructure to allow customs to examine all suspicious containers passing through Belgian ports. It also seeks to allow local authorities to shut down businesses used for drug money laundering.
The government wants to check the criminal records of all port employees as well as their financial status – part of an effort to combat bribery. Van Quickenborn said those checks would cover workers in all ports in Belgium, including employees in inland ports and dockworkers, but also IT staff – about 16,000 people in total.
The government also wants to increase fines for cocaine users to €1,000 – or alternatively introduce rehab. “Penalties for users should be linked to the effects of drugs on our society,” De Crew said, adding that the social harm of drug use is enormous.
The government will also increase pressure on the UAE to extradite those involved in trafficking. Belgium signed an extradition deal with the UAE in 2021, but Dubai rejected Requesting the extradition of Noordin El Hajjioui, who has been accused of coordinating cocaine trafficking in Antwerp. Van Quickenborn pointed to a “lack of will” in the United Arab Emirates, but also Turkey and Morocco.
“We will not accept that there are countries that are free havens to protect these types of drug criminals,” he said.
The government plans to appoint a national drugs commissioner on Friday, who will be charged with coordinating the production and trade of drugs and the fight against drug-related violence.
Belgian ministers are meeting on Friday with their Dutch counterparts, the ports and mayors of Antwerp and Rotterdam and the world’s biggest shipping companies to discuss the measures.