Belgium’s most powerful politician has a drugs problem
Bart De Wever is under attack from the far right over the drug war in Antwerp
Politico (US)
Saturday, January 11, 2020
Saturday, January 11, 2020
Drug gangs increasingly choose Antwerp over the port of Rotterdam since checks there have become tougher. Almost one-third of all cocaine intercepted in European ports was in the port of Antwerp, according to Europol's latest EU Drug Markets Report. Belgian customs announced that 2019 was a new record year. They intercepted 61 tons of cocaine, which is more than 10 times as much as five years earlier. This upsurge has less to do with increased controls than with growing European consumption, according to narcotics experts. Critically, the drug problem exposes Belgium's most influential politician, Bart De Wever, Antwerp's mayor, to being politically outflanked by the far right.
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