– The children could not go to school. The wife could not go to work. It’s been pretty tough. The man who speaks to news via the computer is the Minister of Justice in Belgium. Since last autumn, Vincent Van Quickenborne has lived at a secret address with his family for two periods. – We had to stay indoors, he says. In January they moved back home, but the security regime under which he lives means that he still limits public appearances. Interviews are conducted digitally, with an anonymous background, so you cannot see where he is. The reason: Concrete threats of kidnapping and violence. ROUNDED: A policeman checks the scene where an 11-year-old girl was shot in January, in a suburb of Antwerp. Photo: Virginia Mayo / AP Automatic weapons and gasoline In September, Belgian police announced that a car with several automatic weapons, including a Kalashnikov rifle, as well as jugs of gasoline, had been found near the minister’s home in Kortrijk. A plan to kidnap the minister was uncovered, and four Dutch nationals were arrested in the case. Then, in December, came new death threats. Van Quickenborne and his family were transported to a secret, highly protected location again. – Despite what my family has to go through, it is worth the price. We will never give up. That’s what the criminals want you to do, he says. The Mocro mafia The men who threaten Van Quickenborne are part of criminal groups called the Mocro mafia. Initially, there were various gangs with a Dutch-Moroccan background that were involved in drug crime at a local level in the Netherlands. In recent years, the groups have become more powerful, richer and more violent. As the Belgian Minister of Justice sees it, the groups now pose a greater threat to security in Europe than Islamist terror. HARD PACKAGES: A cocaine seizure at the port of Antwerp before Christmas. 2022 was another record year for seizures in the Belgian port: 110 tonnes of cocaine. Photo: Belgian Finance Ministry / AP – This is not just a problem in Belgium. The situation is similar in the Netherlands. And it will be just as serious throughout Europe, he warns. – Trust me when I tell you this: This will be a problem in France. In Germany. In Spain. Wave of cocaine The Mocro mafia has emerged for several reasons. One of them is about who controls the production of cocaine in Latin America. Several actors are producing more and more cocaine. Europe has been hit by a “wave of cocaine”, Europol stated last autumn. The figures show a dramatic increase in seizures every single year. At the same time, the street price of cocaine remains stable, so the seizures apparently do not affect the market. There is far too much to take off: for every tonne of cocaine stopped at the borders, ten tonnes slip in, according to Europol’s calculations. Where the Italian mafia previously had a monopoly on cocaine imports, it has become possible for several European actors to establish direct contacts in Latin America. The battle for market share has been bloody. Especially in the Netherlands, but also Belgium, where the latest victim was the 11-year-old girl Firdaous El J, who was killed in a gang fight in a suburb of Antwerp earlier in January. RARE FRUIT: Much of the cocaine that ends up in Europe is transported in containers transporting fruit from Latin America. Photo: VALERIA MONGELLI / AFP – Beheadings, torture, murder. The only thing that matters to them is violence and money, says Vincent Van Quickenborne. While innocent people are affected by the gangs’ fight against each other, the tactics now also include targeted attacks on representatives of the state. Narco-terrorism – We are in a completely new situation in our country. A situation characterized by what I would call narco-terrorism, says the minister. – In the past, the drug gangs attacked each other. This was something that was going on in the underworld. Today, the underworld threatens all of society. Judges, investigators, police officers. Several journalists now live under protection as a result of this, he says. – And now they are also attacking politicians. And that means me, the country’s Minister of Justice. The reason why the drug mafia is now taking such steps is that the authorities have actually succeeded in targeting the organisation. A massive intelligence operation in which several countries were involved has produced dramatic results in the last couple of years. The operation, called SKY ECC, gave investigators access to a billion messages between criminals – messages they thought were securely encrypted. 2,735 people have been given the status of suspect after the operation. 1,400 people have been arrested. – This was a hard blow for the criminals. And that is why they are attacking us now, says Van Quickenborne. – I am the first Minister of Justice in the country who has to live under protection in this way. I will certainly not be the last. Fruit and drugs So how did Belgium end up here, with a drug mafia so confident that it threatens state representatives? Fruit is part of the explanation. CONTAINER PORT: The huge port area of Antwerp has become the main entry point for cocaine into Europe. Photo: Simen Ekern For hundreds of years, the port of Antwerp has been Europe’s most important port of entry for fruit. Almost all fruit from Latin America came to Antwerp, to be distributed in Europe. With good, fast logistics and a strategic proximity to important European markets, Antwerp has become Europe’s second largest port. When it comes to cocaine smuggling, it is the continent’s biggest. Because the fruit comes from countries that also produce cocaine, and it is in the fruit containers that much of the drug is hidden. With an area equivalent to 18,000 football pitches, it is not easy to have full control over the port of Antwerp. Only a little over 1 percent of the containers that arrive at the port are scanned. Even fewer are opened. Belgium’s justice minister wants to change that. CHECK ON THE CONTINENT: A container has been picked for manual check in Antwerp. Photo: Simen Ekern – We will turn the port of Antwerp into a fortress, he says. He does not mean that as literally as the mayor of the city, far-right politician Bart De Wever, who has advocated deploying the army in the port. – I understand that people get emotional here, especially after the murder of the 11-year-old girl in Antwerp. But sending in the army is not a good idea. If the army replaces the police, you live in a state you don’t want to live in. Instead, Van Quickenborne wants to close the loopholes. – We will scan all the containers that come in. 70 million euros have been allocated for this work now. We can do this. It is a long way to go from reality today. And if this fortress is to be effective, Van Quickenborne depends on colleagues abroad. It does not help if Antwerp becomes cocaine-free, if the traffic moves to Le Havre in France, Rotterdam in the Netherlands or Hamburg in Germany. In addition, corruption and extortion of dock workers is a huge problem. SAY NO: “Say no to drug trafficking. There is no going back,’ urges this poster outside a port cafe in Antwerp. Photo: Simen Ekern – Dock workers earn 2,000-3,000 euros a month. But they can easily earn 100,000 euros in an instant, just by placing a container in a different place than where it should have been, says the minister, who also wants stricter control measures with everyone who works at the port. In addition, he requests that all international shipping companies be required to use “smart” containers that can send a signal to the police when they are opened. And he is asking for international cooperation to increase control in the production countries. Blood on the hands The critics believe that such a fight against drugs is lost in advance. The debate about legalization has flared up again in line with the increased violence. The arguments are clear: the spiral of violence can only be stopped if cocaine use gets out of the mafia’s control. Vincent Van Quickenborne is basically sympathetic to the idea. PUZZLE: The police observe a container ship outside Rotterdam. Photo: JOHN THYS / AFP – I am a liberal. And I am a politician who is willing to look at all possible solutions, without blinders. But in that case we would have to legalize the production of cocaine. In Ecuador and in Peru. In Colombia and in Bolivia. Then we had to legalize the international distribution. And the use. Do you think a small country like Belgium can do this on its own? Rather, Van Quickenborne goes the opposite way. He has increased the fines for cocaine possession in Belgium. As he puts it: European cocaine users must be aware that they share responsibility for the violence. They have “blood on their hands”, says the minister. Instead of legalizing, he wants to crush the drug mafia, whatever the cost. It is urgent, say leading voices in the country. The public prosecutor in Brussels warned this autumn: Belgium is in danger of becoming a drug state. In such a scenario, narco-terrorism has succeeded. The criminal organizations infiltrate the political system. They are taking over the judiciary. – This will not happen in Belgium. We have incorruptible people in our police force and in our justice sector. I have full confidence in them, says Van Quickenborne. Italian specialties The day before news interviewed the Belgian Minister of Justice, Italian police arrested the country’s most wanted man. Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro was caught after 30 years on the run. He has already been sentenced to life for a wide range of crimes, including complicity in the assassinations of judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992. Vincent Van Quickenborne followed the arrest closely. CONCLUDED: Italian mafia leader Matteo Massina Denaro was arrested on 16 January this year. Photo: CARABINIERI / Reuters – I was so happy when I saw people applauding in the streets when this man was arrested by Italian police. I hope one day we will see the same on the streets of Belgium, he says. Van Quickenborne has been given a meeting room named after Falcone and Borsellino in the Belgian Ministry of Justice. – Italy was at a point where the country was becoming a narco-state in the 80s and 90s. I remember the tragedies they went through. The bombings. The murders. The Minister of Justice falls silent for a moment. – For me, this fight – I don’t want to call it a war, but it is almost a war – it is a very tough fight, a difficult fight, he says. – It will get worse before it gets better. But what happened in Italy now is proof to me that the fight against drug terrorism can be won.
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Belgium’s justice minister is threatened with his life – warns Europe against the drug mafia – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
