During the last six months, Antwerp Harbor customs authorities intercepted 21.7 tons of cocaine. In 2017, the figure was 39 tons, a world record. Chances are that this figure will be even higher this year, according to information communicated Thursday by the Mediahuis daily papers.
In the last years, cocaine trafficking is on the rise, but this year, the customs and police departments indicated that heroin smuggling has literally exploded. According to the figures published by customs authority’s general counselor and spokesman Francis Adyns, it would seem that more than 3.5 tons of heroin have been discovered this year in the port of Antwerp. For the whole of 2017, the figure was only 1.1 ton.
Likewise, the volumes of cannabis intercepted in the port are on the rise. In the first half of this year, more than 4 tons of cannabis have been intercepted. It’s almost seven times more than in 2017, when 563 kg of hashish and 27 kg of cannabis were seized.
Last February, the federal government proposed the action plan. The aim is to take on the drug problem in and around the port of Antwerp.
The plan consists in particular in the implementation of a work group comprising 80 employees at Antwerp local police, the federal criminal police and tax and social inspection, who will operate together.
The Brussels Times
