A high-tech crime tool already deployed by several local authorities and police zones will now also be rolled out at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges and Brussels Airport to detect criminal organisations and carry out targeted operations.
Brussels Airport in Zaventem and the Port of Antwerp-Bruges are the heart of the Belgian economy and the hub of its international trade, which makes them an attractive target for (internationally) organised crime. This has led to both Zaventem and Antwerp being in the top ten areas with the highest crime scores (Zaventem takes first place, with 1,700 companies with a high crime score).
Both are locations where the import and export of drugs, arms and human trafficking, exploitation, smuggling of stolen goods and money laundering occur frequently. "These criminal activities not only create an influx of violent activity on our streets but also contribute to the disruption of our legal economy," said Flemish Minister of Justice and Energy Zuhal Demir.
In recent years, both police and prosecutors have been working hard to reduce this crime at Belgium's largest airport and port. They are now implementing a new tool to work more preventively, Demir confirmed on Monday.
Targeted operations
They will be given access to Graydon's crime platform, dubbed "crimiscan", which uses public sources of company information and algorithms to provide clues as to which companies could potentially be abused or rogue and to make the relevant departments aware.
This will help authorities carry out targeted enforcement actions at both locations. Demir made the tool available to ten Information and Expertise Centres last year to support local authorities.
"In the process, the platform was consulted 15,513 times. Based on investigations following a high crime score, carwashes, restaurants, takeaways, fish shops, massage parlours, hairdressing salons, and car dealers were rounded up in the context of crime, fraud and even radicalisation," Demir explained. The tool was therefore expanded to all police zones in Flanders.
The harbour master at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges also approached Demir himself, asking to use the crime scan preventively. He wanted to get a better understanding of potential abuse of small port-related companies, which are sometimes taken over by rogue individuals to engage in port activities unobtrusively, as they are less obvious.
