Belgium’s Justice Minister, Annelies Verlinden, aims to make drug lords pay for combating organised crime as well as for their stay in prison, and is considering stripping them of their Belgian nationality.
The measures are part of Verlinden’s broader plan to intensify the fight against organised crime. Her strategy includes harsher punishments for major drug offenders, recovering their assets, and strengthening prosecutors’ offices, judicial police, courts, and prisons.
Under the proposed rules, individuals who commit serious crimes and acquired Belgian nationality less than 15 years earlier may lose their citizenship.
To curb communication with the outside world and prevent the smuggling of drugs and mobile phones, Verlinden wants to deploy drones, install telecom jammers, subject prisoners to mandatory drug tests, and conduct regular screenings of prison staff.
Additional prison cells, guards, detention facilities, detectives, magistrates, and advanced technologies will be required to ramp up the fight against the drug mafia. However, Verlinden stated that her current budget is insufficient.
She plans to propose an annual justice budget increase of €1 billion by 2029 in upcoming budget discussions, with €500 million allocated to operational costs and €500 million for infrastructure.
A judge should also have the power to use confiscated criminal funds to cover detention costs, which amount to €62,000 per prisoner each year, according to Verlinden.
