Passenger data analysis in Belgium led to 80 arrests last year, according to the annual report of the National Travel Targeting Centre (NTTC).
The NTTC, which oversees the Belgian Passenger Information Unit (BelPIU), analysed nearly 39.62 million travel movements across more than 307,000 transport operations in 2025. This marked an increase from 2024, when there were 36.28 million movements across 251,000 flights. The rise was primarily due to the integration of international bus travel into the system in mid-2025.
BelPIU’s analysis generated 4,087 alerts for relevant authorities last year, 313 of which resulted in arrests, interrogations, or detentions.
Police detained 80 individuals in 2025, compared with 166 in 2024. More than half of these arrests (42) were related to drug offences. Other cases included 17 arrests for organised crime, 8 for parental abduction, 6 for murder or severe assault, 4 for human trafficking (including 1 overseas), 2 for terrorism, and 1 for extremism or radicalism.
Customs officials conducted 1,177 inspections at domestic and international airports, based on BelPIU’s data. Of these, 526 inspections (68 conducted abroad) yielded results. Authorities seized 2,168 kilograms of drugs, nearly quadrupling the amount intercepted in 2024. Most confiscated substances included qat and cannabis.
Other findings included over 11,000 cartons of cigarettes, 181 counterfeit goods, and more than €172,000 worth of gold bars hidden in shoes.
“The consistent positive results of NTTC/BelPIU each year are only possible thanks to collaboration with colleagues from other security and intelligence agencies in a central operational unit,” said NTTC director Gunter Ceuppens. “This model continues to serve as an inspiring example for other EU member states.”
