BEEB SCRAPS EVANS’ FLOP GEAR DVD
IT USED to be famed for its diamond trade – but now Antwerp is the cocaine capital of Europe.
And a Sunday People probe found smugglers flooding the under-staffed port with the Class A drug are moving it to Britain to meet record demand.
We heard of how overstretched border guards in the Belgian city are losing the fight against Colombian drug lords.
Cartels are hiding tonnes of coke in items including marble slabs and wooden beams, loaded in shipping containers. Members of the Albanian Mafia based in Antwerp then ship it on to the UK.
War
A whistleblower at the port said: “The cartels have discovered it is relatively easy to use Antwerp as a gateway to Britain.
“Port staff do their best and have uncovered a number of plots. But they don’t have the resources to stop it all. They’re losing the war and can only take heart from winning a few small battles.”
The Antwerp drugs scene is now largely controlled by Albanians, who smuggle drugs here through Southend, Essex, before distributing them nationwide – with a focus on London. We launched our probe after a report this month BBC chiefs were forced to scrap plans for a festive best of Top Gear special featuring Chris Evans – because there weren’t enough highlights.
The DJ quit the BBC 2 motoring series after just six shows as ratings nose-dived and before filming a planned two- part Christmas RIP ON, RIP OFF Gangs use tricks to get drugs to Belgium then UK showed Antwerp tops a drugs table of shame. Tests in European cities usually show London releases the most cocaine into its wastewater per person. But this year, the Belgian city overtook it.
And while cocaine use is soaring there, so too is the amount of drugs smuggled out. Official stats show just two per cent of eight million containers passing through Antwerp each year are screened. And workers at ports in Colombia, special. Despite that, show chiefs hoped to piece together a package of clips from the BBC 2 show.
But after looking at the options bosses decided to simply cut their losses and erase his stint in the show’s driving seat from history.
A source said: “To put it bluntly, there just weren’t enough highlights from the series to justify it.”
Meanwhile, in a further blow to Evans, a new Top Gear DVD Ecuador and Venezuela are making it harder for Belgian cops by slipping drugs into legitimate containers by breaking and replacing the security seal before they begin their journey. Official figures suggest record levels of cocaine are now being smuggled into Europe via Belgium.
Belgian customs intercepted nearly 22 tonnes of coke in the first eight months of 2016 – more than the previous record of 18 tonnes for the whole of 2012. In featuring Jeremy Clarkson is heading up the best-seller charts giving the Beeb an unexpected multi-million pound bonus.
Top Gear: From A-Z – The Ultimate Extended Edition, starring Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond, has sold an estimated 500,000 copies since going on sale four weeks ago.
The two-hour DVD, narrated by John Bishop, is one of March, officials also uncovered three tonnes of cocaine in a container of bananas from Colombia. The surge is causing a major drug use problem – not least in the Belgian city itself.
Antwerp resident Phillippe, 36, was spending £1,000 a week on cocaine but got clean with help from Narcotics Anonymous. He said: “You can find cocaine quicker here than in other places. It is easy to obtain. A gram is €50 – half the price of most other places in Europe. And it is better quality as there is so much competition.”
Our source at the port, who asked not to be named, added: “The problem is worse than ever. The Albanian Mafia can take advantage of the situation before transporting most of it to Britain, where they can make the biggest profit. They sell it at €50,000 per kilo in the UK, against €30,000 elsewhere.”
The Government’s organised crime force e estimates drug trafficking costs the UK s some £10.7billion per year. T The National Crime Agency’s offici cial website states: “The amount of c cocaine estimated to be imported annually into the UK is 25 to 30 tonnes. The most significant method currently used is in maritime c container ships arriving in European h hub ports, such as Antwerp, before be being moved into the UK.” Amazon’s 250 best-selling DVDs of the year and is in the Top 100 TV box sets charts.
By contrast, the DVD box set of Evans’ Series 23, which went on sale in July, is at 32,379 in Amazon’s best-seller charts and 6,415 in the TV box sets chart.
A BBC spokesman said its focus was on the new Top Gear series, fronted by Matt Le Blanc, which will return in the spring.