The Antwerp court published an open letter from an anonymous judge, who warned that Belgium was evolving into a “narco-state.” According to him, vast mafia structures have taken root and are turning into “a parallel force that challenges not only the police but also the judicial system.” Willocx acknowledged that the country is trying to avoid this scenario, but added that pressure from organized crime is growing.
Belgium faces a serious threat from international drug crime and risks becoming a “narco-state,” senior justice officials have warned. In an interview with The Guardian, leaders of the judicial system in the city of Antwerp say the financial power of drug cartels is creating enormous pressure on state institutions and society.
Bart Willocx, president of the Court of Appeal in Antwerp, said Belgium was particularly vulnerable because of the city’s large port, which is considered one of the main points of entry for cocaine into Europe. “The amounts of money involved in influencing people, corrupting them or buying them off are so large that they pose a real risk to the stability of our society,” he told The Guardian.
WARNINGS ABOUT A “PARALLEL FORCE” OF THE MAFIA
In October last year, the Antwerp Court published an open letter from an anonymous judge, who warned that Belgium was evolving towards a “narco-state.” According to him, vast mafia structures have taken root and are transforming into “a parallel force that challenges not only the police but also the judicial system.”
Willocx acknowledged that the country is trying to avoid this scenario, but added that pressure from organized crime is growing. “It is an evolution and a real threat,” he said. The attorney general for the Antwerp and Limburg Regions, Guido Vermeiren, also spoke in the same vein. “We are becoming a country with a lot of corruption and a lot of threats,” he declared.
MAIN COCAINE PORTS IN EUROPE
According to Europol, more than 70% of the cocaine entering Europe passed through the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam in 2024. However, the European agency has warned that criminal networks are increasingly using smaller ports to avoid controls. Belgium’s problem is linked to the significant increase in the amount of cocaine coming from South America, mainly from Colombia. In 2023, 121 tons of cocaine were seized, a record according to the European drugs agency.
In 2024, that figure fell to 44 tons, which experts say could be linked to more sophisticated methods of concealing the drugs or a shift in activity to smaller ports. Organized crime linked to drug trafficking has also been linked to violence. Authorities believe drug gangs were behind a plot to kidnap a Belgian interior minister in 2022, as well as several shootings in Brussels in 2025.
YOUTH RECRUITMENT
Justice officials describe a widespread criminal network that includes corruption, kidnappings, torture, money laundering and violent attacks. In one case, criminals paid over 250 euros to a port worker to move a single container. Workers who refuse to cooperate face serious threats. “They have received letters with photos of their children. There have been attacks on their homes with homemade explosives,” said prosecutor Vermeiren.
Gangs also recruit minors. According to the prosecutor’s office, children as young as 13 are paid to enter the port and steal cocaine from containers. In other cases, young people are first helped to find work at the port and then forced to cooperate with criminal networks. In March 2024, police prevented an attempt by four people armed with automatic weapons to steal more than 1.500 tons of cocaine confiscated from a customs warehouse.
PRESSURE ON JUDGES AND THE JUSTICE SYSTEM
Organized crime has also begun to affect the security of judges and prosecutors. According to Willocx, police and hospital employees have been bribed or threatened into providing confidential information, such as judges’ home addresses. As a result, some judges have been forced to live in safe houses under police protection. The anonymous judge who wrote the warning letter spent four months in hiding. “Within a day, you have to leave your home and family and live in a place where no one knows where you are,” Willocx said.
According to judges, the Belgian judicial system is on the verge of collapse after decades of underfunding. Although the justice ministry promised in 2024 an additional 1 billion euros by 2029, doubts remain about sufficient resources. The warnings were part of the “Five to Twelve” campaign, an initiative by Antwerp courts and prosecutors to alert the public to the crisis in the justice system and the risk it poses to the rule of law.
LARGE CRIMINAL NETWORK REVEALED BY SKY ECC
The scale of organized drug trafficking became clear after the dismantling of the encrypted Sky ECC communications network, used by hundreds of criminals to coordinate narcotics smuggling, money transfers and ordering murders.
Five years after the first arrests on March 9, 2021, Belgian authorities announced that 1.206 people have been convicted so far for crimes related to drugs, violence, corruption and illegal possession of weapons. Around 5 other suspects have been identified. The investigations uncovered a criminal network that stretched from Dubai to South America. “It was even worse than we thought,” prosecutor Vermeiren told The Guardian.