Growing Mafia Power Puts Belgium at Risk of Becoming ‘Narco-State’: Judge

Belgium is in danger of evolving into a “narco-state” as organized crime penetrates key institutions and exploits Antwerp’s giant port to smuggle cocaine into Europe, an investigating judge warned in an open letter cited by the Financial Times.

The Antwerp judge, who remains anonymous after spending four months in a safe house due to threats, said criminal networks have built “extensive mafia structures” that now challenge the nation’s police and courts alike, the FT reported.

Drawing on findings from probes that used decrypted messages between smugglers and associates, the judge described a parallel economy operating in and around the Port of Antwerp, which has become a focal point for Latin American cocaine to the continent and related large-scale money laundering, according to the report.

What’s more, corruption has “permeated” public bodies, with investigations leading to arrests of port workers, customs officers, police and even judiciary staff, the judge wrote in the letter cited by the newspaper. Moving a single container can pay about €100,000 and trafficking a bag can bring in €50,000 or more, the letter said.

Warning that Belgium already ticks the core boxes of a narco-state—an illicit economy, corruption and violence—the judge urged emergency measures to protect the justice system and its personnel.

“The consequences are serious: are we evolving into a narco-state?” the judge wrote. “According to our drug commissioner, this evolution has begun. My colleagues and I share this sentiment.”

The judge is one of 17 in Antwerp with the authority to authorize wiretaps and other evidence-gathering methods for investigations, the Financial Times said.

The publication of the letter comes a year after a Belgian court sentenced 119 people to prison for drug-related crimes following an international law enforcement investigation that cracked decrypted messages sent by criminal gangs using the Sky ECC messaging service.