Outrage over girl’s ‘drug war’ death as Belgium’s cocaine haul breaks records
Belgian politicians have expressed outrage over the fatal shooting of an 11year-old girl in Antwerp in a “drug war” between rival gangs, as authorities said cocaine seizures at the city’s port passed the 100-tonne mark for the first time last year.
Figures showing an unprecedented interception of cocaine at Antwerp, Europe’s second-largest port, were released on Tuesday, as shock reverberated over the death of the girl. The child, who was hit during a shooting in the Merksem district on Monday evening, was described by the city’s mayor, Bart de Wever, as the innocent victim of a drugs war.
“Terrible news from Merksem,” tweeted Belgium’s justice minister, Vincent Van Quickenborne, adding that the drug mafia could not sink any lower.
Belgian authorities announced on Tuesday they had seized nearly 110 tonnes of cocaine in 2022 at Antwerp, setting a new record and crossing the threshold of 100 tonnes for the first time. In 2021, customs authorities seized 89.5 tonnes of the drug, which is often hidden in cargoes of fruit and vegetables.
Belgium accounts for 40% of all cocaine detected in Europe, Kristian Vanderwaeren, head of customs at Belgium’s
finance ministry, told Flemish public broadcaster VRT, describing Antwerp as “the top destination” for drug smugglers.
So much cocaine has been intercepted that law enforcement officials last year said they did not have enough incinerator capacity to destroy it.
Despite the record haul, experts have suggested seizures represent only 10-20% of the total amount of the drug in circulation. “The price on the street remains stable, so that shows that what is seized is not of such a nature as to disrupt the market,” a criminal lawyer, Johan Maes, told VRT.
Second to Antwerp is the Dutch port of Rotterdam, which last year intercepted 52.5 tonnes of cocaine, down from 70 tonnes in 2021. Seizures of cocaine have increased sharply at Antwerp over the last decade and authorities on Tuesday praised “brilliant detective work” for the latest record catch. Belgian authorities said they planned to recruit 108 new staff to tighten controls at Antwerp.
The five largest cocaine exporting countries were Panama, Ecuador, Paraguay, Colombia and Brazil, based on the volumes intercepted, AFP reported.
Belgian politicians expressed outrage at the shooting of the 11-year-old girl in what was described as a settling of scores between drug traffickers. The child was seriously injured when a garage door came under fire at about 6.30pm on Monday evening. The door concealed a living space, and two other children were also injured. The girl died in hospital of her injuries.
De Wever said the girl’s family had been known to authorities. “This clearly looks like a settling of accounts among drug traffickers,” he told local media. “A drugs war is in progress. Criminals are
attacking the homes of other criminals. This is what we have been experiencing for months now. What I’ve been fearing for some time has happened: an innocent victim, a child, has been killed.”
De Wever, the president of the New Flemish Alliance party, which campaigns for Flanders to be independent from Belgium, criticised the national drug plan as a “disappointment” although said he had had good conversations with Van Quickenborne, a Flemish liberal politician.
Van Quickenborne said prosecutors and police were doing their utmost to track down those responsible for drug violence. “Last year over 80 acts of violence were committed in Antwerp. Regularly those responsible are being arrested and convicted. Today they fill a whole wing of Antwerp prison. To be clear: we’re not only talking about the culprits but also those who commission these atrocities.”
Referring to the drug gangs, he said police were “on their case”, citing a vast investigation into organised crime and drug smuggling where officers intercepted encrypted phone calls that led to numerous arrests. The Sky/ECC investigation – named after a Canadian/ US company that supplied software – began in 2018 and was credited with the arrest of more than 1,200 people by mid 2022, according to Belgian media.
Last year, police tightened up Van Quickenborne’s security and arrested four people, after detecting an apparent plot by a “drug mafia” to kidnap the minister.