By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept

News Junction

Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
  • Home
  • World News
    World NewsShow More
    For U.S. Defense Industry, These Minerals Really are ‘Critical’
    For U.S. Defense Industry, These Minerals Really are ‘Critical’
    May 14, 2025
    Did the US flinch first in tariff war with China? | Trade War News
    Did the US flinch first in tariff war with China? | Trade War News
    May 14, 2025
    Saudis use burgers to impress Trump (VIDEO) — RT World News
    Saudis use burgers to impress Trump (VIDEO) — RT World News
    May 14, 2025
    Sony shares rise in choppy trade as PlayStation maker announces .7 billion share buyback
    Sony shares rise in choppy trade as PlayStation maker announces $1.7 billion share buyback
    May 14, 2025
    U.S. to cut tariffs on small packages from China to as low as 30% – National
    U.S. to cut tariffs on small packages from China to as low as 30% – National
    May 14, 2025
  • Business
    BusinessShow More
    Ukraine blows up bridges to consolidate its positions in Russia
    Ukraine blows up bridges to consolidate its positions in Russia
    August 18, 2024
    Commentary: AI phones from Google and Apple will erode trust in everything
    Commentary: AI phones from Google and Apple will erode trust in everything
    August 18, 2024
    The most famous Indian Dishes – Insights Success
    The most famous Indian Dishes – Insights Success
    August 18, 2024
    Life on the road as a female long rides cyclist
    Life on the road as a female long rides cyclist
    August 18, 2024
    UK inflation rises to 2.2%
    UK inflation rises to 2.2%
    August 18, 2024
  • Cryptocurrency
    CryptocurrencyShow More
    Price analysis 3/10: SPX, DXY, BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, DOGE, ADA, PI
    Price analysis 3/10: SPX, DXY, BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, DOGE, ADA, PI
    May 14, 2025
    Ethereum retakes 10% control of crypto market, but ETH bulls shouldn’t celebrate yet
    Ethereum retakes 10% control of crypto market, but ETH bulls shouldn’t celebrate yet
    May 14, 2025
    Top South Korean presidential hopefuls support legalizing Bitcoin ETFs
    Top South Korean presidential hopefuls support legalizing Bitcoin ETFs
    May 14, 2025
    Ex-SEC Chair Gary Gensler privately supported crypto — McHenry
    Ex-SEC Chair Gary Gensler privately supported crypto — McHenry
    May 14, 2025
    Bitcoin Pepe nears .2M on Solana hype
    Bitcoin Pepe nears $8.2M on Solana hype
    May 14, 2025
  • Technology
    TechnologyShow More
    How to Improve Your Spotify Recommendations
    How to Improve Your Spotify Recommendations
    August 18, 2024
    X says it’s closing operations in Brazil
    X says it’s closing operations in Brazil
    August 18, 2024
    Supermoon set to rise: Top tips for amateur photographers | Science & Tech News
    Supermoon set to rise: Top tips for amateur photographers | Science & Tech News
    August 18, 2024
    Scientists Want to See Videos of Your Cat for a New Study
    Scientists Want to See Videos of Your Cat for a New Study
    August 18, 2024
    OpenAI’s new voice mode let me talk with my phone, not to it
    OpenAI’s new voice mode let me talk with my phone, not to it
    August 18, 2024
  • Entertainment
  • Sports News
  • People
  • Trend
Reading: ‘We need to cooperate to be effective’: EU officials to launch anti-drug smuggling network
Share
Font ResizerAa

News Junction

  • World News
  • Business
  • Technology
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Trend
  • Entertainment
Search
  • Recent Headlines in Entertainment, World News, and Cryptocurrency – NewsJunction
  • World News
  • Business
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Technology
  • Entertainment
  • Sports News
  • People
  • Trend
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
News Junction > Blog > World News > ‘We need to cooperate to be effective’: EU officials to launch anti-drug smuggling network
‘We need to cooperate to be effective’: EU officials to launch anti-drug smuggling network
World News

‘We need to cooperate to be effective’: EU officials to launch anti-drug smuggling network

Published January 21, 2024
Share
6 Min Read
SHARE


Belgium’s Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden talks with attendees prior to a meeting with the representatives of six European countries to fight against cocaine trafficking, in Antwerp.

  • EU officials called for increased measures to counter drug smuggling in Europe.
  • Top representatives from 20 EU ports will meet to launch the European Ports Alliance.
  • Cocaine seizures at the vast Antwerp port each year breaks records.

Drug smugglers in the EU have become so “very creative” that the bloc’s seaports should join forces to combat their ever-changing tactics, Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden told AFP.

That idea is to be promoted on Wednesday when Verlinden, along with the European Commission, meets top representatives from around 20 EU ports, Europol officials, other interior ministers and sea transport executives to launch the European Ports Alliance.

The inauguration will take place in Antwerp, the Belgian port city that is the main gateway for cocaine trafficked into Europe.

Despite stepped-up screening, cocaine seizures at the vast Antwerp port each year breaks records. 

Last year, 116 tonnes of the drug were intercepted there. 

READ | SA is central to the rising cocaine trade in Southern Africa, global crime index finds

And Antwerp is frequently rocked by violence linked to gangs fighting over the hugely lucrative smuggling.

The traffickers “are always very creative and that is our challenge – they pay no heed to laws on working time, right to privacy, borders”, Verlinden said.

She said:

So we need to cooperate to be effective.

“We need to create this network to combat organised crime.”

The port alliance aims to crack down on both the smuggling and the infiltration of the ports by criminal networks.

Private sector buy-in is needed because the steps to be taken could impact legal trading, so a good “balance” needs to be found, the Belgian minister said.

The partnership has a goal of harmonising security measures, to reduce the ability of the gangs to cast around for ports with laxer checks – and also to avoid trading companies moving away to ports with less red tape and security delays.

“We know that the companies are very flexible and, if something isn’t working, that they can go elsewhere in a heartbeat. We also want to avoid that,” Verlinden said, stressing how economically crucial Antwerp’s hub was to Belgium.

“In Antwerp, we have a record number of seizures, but we never know what we didn’t manage to seize,” the minister said, listing reinforced measures with security services, customs officers and a port security corps.

Antwerp’s hub now boasts a mobile scanner that passes over selected containers. 

Five other scanners are to be delivered this year.

Around 100 more customs officers are also expected to be assigned to the port.

According to Belgium’s customs service, only 1% to 2% of arriving containers are scanned.

“What we want is to scan all containers coming from risk countries,” including in Latin America and west Africa, Verlinden said.

She noted that some of those containers might transit through another port not considered a risk.

This handout photo taken in an undisclosed place a

This handout photo taken in an undisclosed place and released by Spain’s Guardia Civil shows a speed boat loaded with parcels, seized as part of a drug trafficking investigation led simultaneously in Spain and Portugal and coordinated by Europol. Nine people suspected of participating in a vast drug trafficking network were arrested in Spain and Portugal, where two tonnes of Colombian cocaine were seized, the Spanish Civil Guard announced.

AFP Spanish Guardia Civil/AFP

The minister also backed the increased use of cameras, but acknowledged that they raised problems when it came to companies wanting to protect trade secrets.

Communication is also key.

In 2021 Belgium had a breakthrough when, in collaboration with French and Dutch police, it cracked the encrypted communications network Sky ECC favoured by criminal gangs.

That led to a cascade of arrests and raids, and a drug trafficking trial of 120 suspects currently under way in Brussels.

Verlinden said:

We know that we are upsetting the criminal groups and that is creating a reaction of panic, and that heightened violence could be linked to the panic.

The decrypted Sky ECC messages also laid bare a high level of corruption in Belgium.

“We realised that members of the customs service, the police, courts, lawyers could have been implicated in these criminal networks,” she said.

“On corruption, you have to be strict…. That’s a fight that goes on,” Verlinden said, after two Belgian police officers were recently charged in a drugs case.

“I don’t believe – and I say this sincerely – that we are living in a narco-state. But we needn’t go further in space or time to realise (the danger of) the mafia in Italy. Obviously we shouldn’t head toward that sort of situation.”

#cooperate #effective #officials #launch #antidrug #smuggling #network

TAGGED:antidrugbelgiumcooperateeffectiveEUlaunchNetworkofficialssmuggling
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Whatsapp Whatsapp LinkedIn Email Copy Link Print
Share
What do you think?
Love0
Sad0
Happy0
Sleepy0
Angry0
Dead0
Wink0
Previous Article History Suggests the Nasdaq Will Surge in 2024: 1 “Magnificent Seven” Stock to Buy Before It Does History Suggests the Nasdaq Will Surge in 2024: 1 “Magnificent Seven” Stock to Buy Before It Does
Next Article Brook withdraws from England’s five-Test tour of India for personal reasons Brook withdraws from England’s five-Test tour of India for personal reasons
- Advertisement -

Latest Post

Price analysis 3/10: SPX, DXY, BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, DOGE, ADA, PI
Price analysis 3/10: SPX, DXY, BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, DOGE, ADA, PI
Cryptocurrency
For U.S. Defense Industry, These Minerals Really are ‘Critical’
For U.S. Defense Industry, These Minerals Really are ‘Critical’
World News
Ethereum retakes 10% control of crypto market, but ETH bulls shouldn’t celebrate yet
Ethereum retakes 10% control of crypto market, but ETH bulls shouldn’t celebrate yet
Cryptocurrency
Did the US flinch first in tariff war with China? | Trade War News
Did the US flinch first in tariff war with China? | Trade War News
World News
Top South Korean presidential hopefuls support legalizing Bitcoin ETFs
Top South Korean presidential hopefuls support legalizing Bitcoin ETFs
Cryptocurrency
Saudis use burgers to impress Trump (VIDEO) — RT World News
Saudis use burgers to impress Trump (VIDEO) — RT World News
World News
- Advertisement -

You Might Also Like

Paris Olympics 2024: Event facts – surfing, breaking, mascots, Eiffel Tower | Paris Olympics 2024 News
World News

Paris Olympics 2024: Event facts – surfing, breaking, mascots, Eiffel Tower | Paris Olympics 2024 News

July 19, 2024
Chet Hanks says his past drug use was so severe that ‘cokeheads’ told him to ‘chill’ – as he discusses intervention staged by parents Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson
World News

Chet Hanks says his past drug use was so severe that ‘cokeheads’ told him to ‘chill’ – as he discusses intervention staged by parents Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson

July 2, 2024
A reformist won the first round, but who will become president of Iran? — RT World News
World News

A reformist won the first round, but who will become president of Iran? — RT World News

June 30, 2024
Iran reformist Pezeshkian wins presidential election
World News

Iran reformist Pezeshkian wins presidential election

July 7, 2024

About Us

NEWS JUNCTION (NewsJunction.xyz) Your trusted destination for global news. Stay informed with our timely and accurate reporting on diverse topics, including politics, technology, science, entertainment, sports, and more. Count on us for unbiased and reliable updates at your fingertips.

Quick Link

  • About
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact

Top Categories

  • World News
  • Business
  • Technology
  • Entertainment
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Sports News
  • Trend
  • People

Subscribe

Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!

    © 2023 News Junction.
    • Blog
    • Advertise
    • Contact
    Welcome Back!

    Sign in to your account

    Username or Email Address
    Password

    Lost your password?