Het is al een tijdje onrustig in the Antwerp drugs circuit. The two explosions on Wednesday night come to all warnings and also from the bottom of the hill. Onder other door partijen drugs which zijn kwijtgeraakt.
The two answers never come as a verrassing. In 2022 there were 25 incidents linked to the organization of drug crime, said Kristof Aerts, head of the Antwerp park. The explosions were planned, also an eventual link with the drug environment.
Partijen drugs kwijtgeraakt
According to Charlotte Colman’s (UGent) crime story, there are two stories to tell. The first is for the hand liggend: de haven van Antwerpen, the een Rechtstreekse drugsinvoer heeft vanuit Latijns-Amerika. “Dat zich incidenten vordoen in Antwerp is not vreemd, we want to know with de Antwerpse haven.”
The recent incidents are related to other drugs that are reported, says Colman. Het is daardoor onrustig in the Antwerp drugs circuit. In Buurten were known families wonen, vinden afrekeningen places. “When he is a shooting party, he is ofwel een intimidatie, ofwel een vergelding. That can go on or that that fout has happened is in your own keten, often ten aances from a rivaling end.”
paradox
Burgemeester Bart De Wever (N-VA) shows in a reaction that “the zoveelste aanslagen zijn in de golf die nukele maanden bezig lijkt.” De Wever knows about federal government. “Het parket en de federalejustelijke politie voeren een oneerliijke strijd door een seriously used aan mensen en middelen. The federal regulation is not considered a priority by the organized organization. Ministers geven nul op rekest en wuiven het problem weg.” The opposition is real because the Burgemeester is responsible for the construction of the building.
Precies dit is de paradoxical, says Joris van der Aa, journalist at the Gazet in Antwerp. “Mensen kijken near the local politics in Burgemeester. He was spoken to. Zij zitten met de rommel, will he wel what aan doen, maar kunnen little. On the other hand, what you can do, you never do.” The journalist volgt het onderwerp al jaren op de voet. “Ik ken landelijk geen een partij met people who are specialized in organized drugscriminaliteit zijn and here regularly vragen over. Men vindt het blijkbaar een Antwerps problem. Het wapengekletter is avenue in the Antwerp region, at federal level there is nobody there to wake up. Totdat bommetjes change into pods.”
Tekort aan manschappen
The hele keten is onderbemand, says Colman. Het parket, de federale politie, including de scheepvaartpolitie, justitie ensrechtbanken. Dit terwijl de dossiers groeien. “Al jaren klinkt a noodkreet. Vanuit de federale regering must be invested more. Next to that there is a manchappen, he also needs a specialist, bijvoorbeeld for the tracer of financieel economic activities in the drugs circuit.” Het contrast with drugs organizations is groot, want daar is just een overvloed aan middelen en mensen. If you do not agree with the rules in the house, there are political and legal issues in relation to the house. Justitie en politie doen wat ze kunnen, looft Colman. “The frustration that comes with it is also immense.”
In response, Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) stated that “this is what has been agreed and dealt with under the regulations of the Federal Politie”. Het cabinet maakt van georganiseerde misdaad een priority, puts ze, and zet daarvoor extra politiemensen in. I didn’t consider it as an point, but as an important step in the direction of the gods.”
This is an international action on drugs crimes. “Yes, there is a problem van de federale regering, but there is also an international situation that is open to the public,” says Charlotte Colman. Drugscriminalitude does not stop at the national borders, says Minister Verlinden. Het cabinet is in op reinforced international semen works, such as political semen works with lands in Latijns-Amerika.
Prevention remains important
Tot nu toe blijven de incidenten vorornamelijk bij material shame. De Vergelijking met Nederland, waar openbare liquidaties in the drug environment Plaatsvinden, is then also not te maden. Journalist Joris van der Aa writes: “Men vreest er al jaren voor dat het gaat geuberen. He was told more about being welded and being warned about the inside, but someone physically uitschakelen is uitzonderlijk.”
Higher levels of repression have been discussed in the drugs circuit, but there are ‘laaghangend fruit’, so as drugskoeriers, so also aandacht zijn voor prevention, according to Colman’s criminal investigation. “Antwerp can invest at that level even more in a social vangnet for young people who got into the drugs circuit differently. De luxe, the criminal organizations can only be used with a baantje bij de kruidenier.” An integral part of the same work of the maatschappelijke organisations, schools and other countries is concerned. “He zijn al mooie projects en initiatieven in België, maar he can nog meer. I would like to increase the redundancy in the strengthening of the preventive component and the improvement.”