Belgium's Justice Ministry is "showing its teeth" to the drug mafia, according to Federal Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne, whose aim is to seize 20% of the drug traffic to crack the mafia's business model.
Last year, 110 tonnes of drugs were seized in Belgium – a figure that should go up to reach 220-250 tonnes, which would represent some 20% of the drug trade, Van Quickenborne told Le Soir. "Europol (the EU's law enforcement agency) tells us we will destroy the mafia's business if we reach that figure."
The strengthening of the federal judicial police and a series of other measures, such as scanning more containers at ports, should help meet that target.
"Today, we scan 40,000 containers, which corresponds to a tenth of high-risk containers," Van Quickenborne said. "Thanks to a €70 million investment by Federal Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem, customs will get five additional mobile scanners and will be able to hire 108 new people. The aim is to be able to scan 400,000 containers this way."
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Additionally, he wants to launch programmes to make the containers more intelligent. "The idea is to alert the police if the door is opened again."
While ports have often been identified as the weak point in the fight against the drug mafia, Van Quickenborne points out that a new port law will require ports and the companies present there to install cameras and introduce biometric identifications – a measure he would like to see implemented internationally.
Importantly, he also wants to screen all high-risk personnel and to strengthen the police in the port of Antwerp.
