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Cocaine and crack continue to flow. Shootings between rival gangs occur near the center of Brussels. Police seize drugs and arrest traffickers almost every day. But dealers keep coming back and residents are fed up.
Violent drug-related crime is becoming increasingly visible in the European Union’s capitals as record amounts of cocaine are seized in Europe.
“We are dealing with a mafia-like organization,” said Jean Spinet, mayor of the Saint-Gilles district, where one man was killed in the early hours of Wednesday after days of fighting between drug traffickers.
One of the Saint Gil shootings occurred on Tuesday. The day was a pre-Lent celebration, when many schools are closed to allow children to take to the streets.
The series of incidents caused anxiety throughout Japan.
“We must continue to invest in security,” Interior Minister Anneliese Verlinden told reporters on Thursday. “The events of the last few days show that this is not an unnecessary luxury.”
Antwerp is a major gateway for Latin American cocaine cartels into the continent, and the Belgian port city has long been plagued by gang violence. Drug use is on the rise across the United States, and federal authorities say human trafficking is rapidly infiltrating society.
The Brussels public prosecutor’s office announces new arrests and large drug and cash seizures almost every day.
“It is clear that these are serious issues that are taken very seriously,” the office said.
Over the past year, the crack cocaine epidemic and the open trade and use of the drug in some central areas have increased, leading to petty theft, fighting and harassment of tourists in this country of 11.5 million people. By the time it becomes daily front page news, an already bad situation has become worse. .
Seven people were killed and 131 injured in drug-related violence in Brussels in 2023, according to police statistics cited by Le Soir newspaper. Federal law enforcement devoted nearly 25% of its investigative capacity last year to drug-related cases across the United States, according to new data released Thursday.
Mr Spinnet said urgent action was needed to combat criminal organizations with transnational links. In Brussels, the influence of gangs from Albania and the French city of Marseille is particularly strong.
Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt said: “I am confident that the police and the justice system can succeed in this matter.”
Last year, an alleged drug trafficker from Marseille was arrested in Brussels. The man was the subject of two arrest warrants in Europe, one of which carried a 12-year prison sentence.
“We’re not talking about little neighborhood deals or little side jobs,” Spinette told RTBF Media Network. He said the problem should be tackled upstream by dismantling networks and called on authorities to prosecute perpetrators faster to avoid a “sense of impunity”.
Despite gentrification along fashionable streets lined with shops, bars and restaurants, large areas of Saint-Gilles remain poor. Its central location makes it a convenient location for dealers, and residents and officials often refer to it as a “drug drive-in.”
The mayor said the traffickers returned just hours after the shooting, angering residents.
“The impression is that they’re not doing anything,” Spinette said. “The dealers are quick to back down. There’s a sense of complete innocence. A sense that they’re safe from everything and that they’re making fun of the police.”
Wednesday’s killing occurred near a square where drug addicts and dealers gather. Following last year’s police cleanup of Brussels Midi Station, Belgium’s main rail gateway, an influx of passengers has flooded the Port de Hal zone, disrupting the lives of residents and shopkeepers.
“Within four or five months, we actually saw a decline,” said one business owner, who requested anonymity for security reasons. “There was a man giving injections near my store the other day. Some men often come in with blood running down their faces. And so many owners here had their store windows broken. This is intolerable.”
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https://apnews.com/hub/drug-trafficking