Why Belgium is now the cocaine capital of Europe



With record seizures of cocaine at Belgian ports, the country has become Europe’s cocaine-trafficking capital. As the flow of drugs increases, local authorities are struggling with corruption and violence.

00:00 – Antwerp: Europe’s cocaine trafficking capital
01:48 – How much cocaine gets seized?
03:18 – Why do traffickers choose the port of Antwerp?
05:54 – The entrepreneurial Balkan mafias
07:35 – How do cocaine mafias make a profit?
08:16 – Customs corruption
11:54 – How can Belgium halt its cocaine trade?
13:43 – Can legalising drugs help?

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How much does cocaine cost around the world? https://econ.st/3DwCuVt

Has the war on drugs failed? https://econ.st/3NsFdSZ

How are Latin American politicians dealing with the war on drugs? https://econ.st/3OklHHv

Why is European organised crime thriving? https://econ.st/3mT5iy8

Is drug trafficking to blame for violence in Latin America? https://econ.st/3tzk691

Watch our previous film about global cocaine trafficking: https://econ.st/3b40tzi

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35 thoughts on “Why Belgium is now the cocaine capital of Europe”

  1. How many decades have these guys now spent fighting these criminal activities without any success? Strange no? And still they carry on with same methods, same resources, same investments, same techniques…even stranger!… I could even say it is more than time to THINK ! but no, the very fact that nobody seems to want to think and change approach / methods is no strange – it is actually the worrying proof that the matter is so deeply infiltrated and so everywhere that debridement is impossible: like with fossil fuels, corruption corrodes, rust is everywhere (often hidden in unthinkable places / people) and the very reason why nothing ever changes…

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  2. The only way to take these men out of business, is to legalize these drugs. They will exist anyway. But there is no political will to do this. Based on the lie that legalization would lead to more drug use.

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  3. Decriminalise all drugs. Then regulate and legalise. Treat those addicted as patients, not criminals. That will end it. Nothing else will. Tackling the supply and doing nothing with the demand will keep on promoting organised crime.

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  4. People have always liked to get high and they always will. So there will always be demand. There’s an easy remedy to all this. Just legalise all drugs and tax them the same way as alcohol. Which by the way is the most dangerous drug of all. If people wish to take drugs, they’re going to take them. Regardless of whether they’re illegal.

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  5. Maybe one day the world will do everything in their power to decrease this illegal trade instead of just blaming South America for all of their deficiencies – that would be nice 👍🏻

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  6. The embodiment of Western civilization – greed, corruption and depravity, and yet the Eastern side of Europe is painted as the black sheep. The Dutch, the French, the English and the Belgians are far too evolved for us to understand, presumably. This could never occur, not ever in their case, since they are surely the top countries of Europe, where people live well, where they are educated, where there is no corruption and every house is made of gingerbread. Congratulations on this fine achievement! Here's to many more – the continent has been prospering thanks to the West's great accomplishments.

    And for all of you who advocate for decriminalizing/legalizing and controlling the process, ask yourselves this: is providing people with even more ways to destroy their lives and the lives of children the correct thing to do by all moral standards? People will be enticed to buy even more, especially when they know the product would be provided by the government (let's imagine it's also regulated – not regulating it would result in the black market becoming an open market), because the product would be tested and wouldn't be "laced", it wouldn't contain anything else except what's put on the label of the drug. Legalizing/decriminalizing would only make it worse (the key difference between the terms being that legalizing also entails providing rules and regulations, so it would mean regulating drug trade, whereas decriminalizing simply and only means it wouldn't be punishable).

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