Image source, Getty Images
At the end of October, a Belgian investigative judge caused an uproar when she published an open letter asking her country’s government for “urgent” assistance.
The official claimed that drug trafficking was turning Belgium into a drug state, and warned that the rule of law was threatened in this country located in the heart of Europe and whose capital is also the capital of the European Union.
“Have we become a drug state? Exaggerated? According to our Narcotics Commissioner, this development has already begun,” charged the judge from Antwerp, a city whose port has become one of the main entry points for cocaine into Europe.
The investigating judge described drug trafficking as “an organized threat that undermines institutions.”
He added, “The large mafia structures have been strengthened, which has become a parallel force that challenges not only the police, but also the judiciary.”
Although experts consider the claim that Belgium has already become a drug state exaggerated, they warn that drug trafficking has become a major problem in the European country.
Due to the increasing demand for drugs across Europe, drug traffickers are exploiting the strategic location of Belgium and the port of Antwerp as a distribution point for illicit goods.
But perhaps the most important factor that made Antwerp a center Of cocaine in Europe is the fact that its port is one of the largest on the continent: the constant flow of containers provides opportunities to hide illicit products in shipments.
“The charge is exaggerated”
“Antwerp has the second largest port in Europe and traditionally receives goods from Latin America. Therefore, it has become a natural entry point, along with the port of Rotterdam, for cocaine,” Letizia Paoli, a criminologist and professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Leuven in Belgium, tells BBC Mundo.
He continues: “The Dutch authorities began to intensify surveillance in Rotterdam before the Belgian authorities.”
He adds: “I think the accusation of a ‘narco state’ is exaggerated, but there are worrying trends, without a doubt.”
Last year, Belgian customs officials intercepted 44 tons of cocaine at the port of Antwerp, a significant decrease from the 121 tons seized in 2023.
But Belgian authorities say these numbers are not necessarily a sign of progress.
Image source, Getty Images
During the first half of this year, 51 tons of cocaine bound for Belgium were intercepted in South America, an increase of 155% compared to 20 tons in the same period last year.
But the problem is not limited to the South American continent only, but goes beyond that.
In December 2024, Dominican Republic authorities reported the seizure of more than nine tons of cocaine, the largest in the country’s history.
The drugs were found in two containers of bananas coming from Guatemala and heading to the port of Antwerp.
1,977 drug smuggling cases
This relatively new Belgian problem is not limited to Antwerp.
In Brussels, the capital of the country and the European Union, drug trafficking is also leaving its mark.
According to Brussels police figures, 1,977 cases of drug smuggling were recorded in 2023, an increase of 26% compared to 2022 and 76% since 2015.
Also in 2023, 6,595 drug possession incidents were recorded in the Belgian capital.
Image source, Getty Images
It appears that acts of violence, which some link to drug use and trafficking, are beginning to get out of the control of the authorities.
In 2024, 89 shooting incidents were recorded in the Belgian capital, and reports indicate that the number this year will be higher.
Likewise, since last year, Brussels has indexed 16 areas considered particularly dangerous Hot spotsMainly related to criminal gangs and drug trafficking.
Drug-related deaths
There were also many drug-related deaths, something very rare just a decade ago.
“While in 2013 we found no murders linked to the cocaine trade in Belgium, between 2014 and 2025, we found that in Antwerp, a hub for cocaine trafficking, there were six drug-related murders,” explains criminologist Letizia Paoli.
“But if we take into account that about 160 murders occur in one year in Belgium, drug-related murders are not that many. They do not even represent 10% of the murders linked to high-level cocaine trafficking in Antwerp, and there have been only six in ten years,” he explains.
Image source, Getty Images
The open letter notes that criminal organizations have infiltrated ports, customs, police and even prisons and judicial systems.
It also claims that judges, including the author, were threatened and calls on the Government to take action.
Criminologist Letizia Paoli stresses that she supports the authorities’ call to allocate more resources and provide greater protection for judges: “They are reasonable and really necessary requests.”
But he insists there is no reason to talk about Belgium as a drug state.
In his view, the drug state has three characteristics: a very high level of violence that affects the life of the community, drug-related corruption so widespread that it reaches the highest levels of government, and a drug economy that contributes a lot to the GDP.
“None of these three criteria applies to Belgium,” he points out.
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