Monday, September 3, 2018

Smuggling at the port of Antwerp - Gateway to Europe

The scale of drug smuggling at the port of Antwerp – through which half of Europe’s supply reportedly passes – is vast. In 2013, police in Antwerp intercepted more than 4,000kg of cocaine. Last year that figure was 39 tonnes, worth more than €1.5bn.

Antwerp’s emergence as a main drug route is linked to a recent huge jump in the production of cocaine, as well as the ease of shipping it in cargo containers.
In the last six months authorities intercepted 21.7 tons of cocaine. More than 3.5 tons of heroin has been found. For all 2017 the figure was 1.1 tons.