Trafficking and Transshipment

"Information about the trafficking patterns for drugs in Belgium is also provided by the Belgian federal police. During the past 4 years, more and more cannabis plantations were found in Belgium (see also Table 10.6), of which the production is often meant for export to The Netherlands. This could be a consequence of the more severe prosecution of cannabis-related organised crime in The Netherlands. Furthermore, Belgium is a trafficking country for cannabis resin. Belgium is also a meeting point for heroin traffickers rather than a heroin trafficking country. Seizures of more than 50 kg of heroin are rare in Belgium, but heroin traffickers meet in Belgium to stay out of the attention of the law enforcement in the countries were they are trafficking heroin.
"In addition, Belgium is known to be a transit country for cocaine with the Brussels airport and the port of Antwerp being used as a gateway to traffic the cocaine from South-America or Africa to Europe. Finally, each year, some illicit amphetamine and/or XTC laboratories are dismantled in Belgium (see also Table 10.5). There is a strong link between the Dutch and Belgian synthetic drug production with the same persons being often involved in the synthetic drug market in both countries (Dommicent, personal communication)."