It is a world where fumes of petrochemical factories join the clouds, where motorways louvoits between parking lots and warehouses, where containers are piled up like the pieces of a multicolored Lego game fell from the hands of a giant.If the fame of the Belgian port of Antwerp, a triage center on a continent, is measured first in the weight of loaded and unloaded goods - 238 million tonnes for the year 2020 - it also drags aReputation, less glorious, of "colander" letting the illicit goods escape from its platforms ... Belgian customs themselves concede it: barely 1 % of traffic is inspected, on two control points, on both sidesScheldt.
Here we are, a fall day.While a line of trucks awaits its turn to pass, in less than two minutes, within the "scanning" device set up to probe their entrails, three agents unpack boxes filled with cream color cushions made in China, transportedby a Romanian driver in a semi-trailer registered in France.Nothing to report.It takes more than a few cutter to dismantle the sectors.In an overhanging room, with the sole decor of a photo of the Belgian royal couple, the head of the drug surveys, eager to keep anonymity, does not hide the extent of his task: "We doFaced with an army out of control, he lets go.The phenomenon explodes like never before.It is a question of corruption, even within our organizations.»»
However, not a week passes without a major cocaine seizure, generally from Brazil, Colombia or Ecuador. « Il y a quelques années, on s’étonnait de découvrir des chargements de plusieurs centaines de kilos, maintenant c’est devenu la routine»», commente le même enquêteur.Thus, more than 90 tonnes were entered in 2021, for an estimated market value between 4 and 5 billion euros, 35 % more than the previous year and fourteen times more than in 2011.But customs leaders are aware of the limits of their action.According to them, barely 10 % of imported cocaine is discovered."The level of financial losses induced by a large seizure leads to a vicious circle," continues the customs officer.Traffickers must then recover it as quickly as possible.»»
The container cap
On the banks of the Scheldt, no terminal escapes this hide-and-seek game. Certains sont des zones particulièrement sensibles, comme le « MPET MSI»», secteur d’accueil des grandes lignes venues d’Amérique du Sud. Ou encore le « Fruit Terminal»» – le plus grand hub portuaire d’Europe spécialisé dans les fruits.The concealment of cocaine bundles in banana regimes is a classic.It is in a cargo of this type, arrival of Ecuador, that 2 tonnes of powder were seized on July 28.The grapefruits, covered with paraffin, also have their followers.Provided that the Antwerp traffickers recover the goods early enough ... Recently, sachets of white powder continued to meet in the fruit and vegetable department of a Polish supermarket.
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