Speech by State Secretary Ve Vries at the presentation of drug figures in Antwerp | Speech

Speech | 10-01-2023

Ladies and gentlemen, dear attendees,

Dear colleague, dear Vincent,

Thank you very much for inviting you and Belgian Customs to be here today on behalf of the Dutch cabinet. That is important, because our safety is under pressure. The annual figures that we present today demonstrate this once again.

Huge drug seizures have again been made in both of our ports. In Rotterdam, with more than 160 seizures, the number remained virtually the same compared to last year and the number of kilos fell to more than 50,000 kilos of cocaine. In Antwerp there were 150 catches and the number of kilos rose from 90,000 to 110,000. Together this adds up to a record amount.

It shows how intertwined our ports are. It shows that drug criminals see our countries as 1 sales market. And it also shows how important it is for our countries to stand shoulder to shoulder in tackling drug crime.

That realization has been around for a long time. Also with the mayors of Antwerp and Rotterdam, Ahmed Aboutaleb and Bart de Wever, who are united in the fight against drug crime. We see how the consequences go much further than just smuggling in the ports. Criminal drug traffickers are asserting themselves more and more ruthlessly and the consequences are becoming more and more widely felt.

Unfortunately, in the Netherlands we have been aware of the consequences for some time. Think of haulers in the harbour. Young people recruited by drug criminals. Residential areas that become unsafe due to drug labs or cannabis farms.

But also ordinary companies that have to deal with drug criminals.

It leads to the most horrible excesses, such as shootings and murders in the middle of the street. To a journalist, or a lawyer. To innocent civilians, just doing their job.

But there was also a sharp increase in violence and shootings in the street in Antwerp last year – often by criminals operating in both our countries.

With the thwarted attempted kidnapping of your colleague, Minister of Quickenborne, by possibly Dutch criminals, as a horrific low point.

I have great respect for the words of Secretary of Quickenborne shortly afterwards. He said that the people behind this are achieving the opposite of what they intend. It has strengthened your conviction that we must continue to fight. With more manpower and resources than before.

I would like to underline that conviction here today from the Dutch cabinet, based on the responsibility we feel for the security in both our countries. At the moment, the upper world is touching the underworld in a completely unacceptable way – with disruptive consequences for society and for the functioning of our democracy. Just like the Belgian government, the Dutch cabinet therefore wants to take a hard line on undermining crime.

I stand here today not only as a representative of the Dutch cabinet, but also as State Secretary for Customs. After all, Customs plays a crucial role in tackling subversion. Customs officers are at the forefront of that fight, doing everything they can to prevent drug smuggling.

I would like to express my appreciation for the customs colleagues in Belgium and the Netherlands. In any case, the 2022 figures that we present today show this: thanks to the work of our customs organizations, huge amounts of drugs have been stopped.

That demands a lot: in commitment, accuracy, and also courage – from, for example, the Special Assistance Team in the Netherlands that arrests drug smugglers – and which will be expanded in the coming year.

A targeted approach to undermining by the underworld requires the bundling of all forces in the upper world. Not only nationally, but certainly also internationally, because organized crime knows no borders.

I am therefore proud to announce that in 2023, Dutch Customs will cooperate even more intensively with Belgian Customs in the fight against drug smuggling. We must make a stand together to stop the increase in smuggling and the associated violence.

Our customs organizations have been exchanging information for a long time. This is how we try to be one step ahead of the criminals. This cooperation also pays off: in various drug seizures that have been made.

We will soon strengthen and anchor this exchange by placing a permanent risk analyst from Dutch Customs in Antwerp.

The cooperation is also expressed in a practical way: for example by deploying the Dutch diving team here in the port.

Much of the crime we currently see in Antwerp partly originates in the Netherlands. That is why the Fortius project was started: in which the Dutch and Belgian police work together with the Dutch and Belgian Customs to make the port of Antwerp less attractive to Dutch drug criminals.

Our Customs also work together towards the source countries in South America. The more drug smuggling is prevented there, the more peace will come to our ports and our cities. Various delegations have been on missions to South American countries. Among other things, with the aim of exchanging scan images, so that we can identify suspicious transports sooner.

Here too we see that the cooperation and good mutual contacts seem to pay off in more drug seizures in the South American countries.

Innovation has an important role to play in making the fight against drug smuggling more efficient, effective and therefore more successful. Our countries also cooperate intensively in this area. Take the use of image recognition for scanning images of containers, so that it is much easier and faster to detect whether, for example, the presence of narcotics is present. The exchange of scan images is also important for this.

Finally, but not unimportantly, we cannot do this alone as a government – ​​we need all parties involved. That is why we are working more and more intensively with the business community. For example, talks with shipping companies have resulted in us now being able to check containers at protected locations, making that check much more efficient and safer. It is just one of the many examples with which Rotterdam, but also Antwerp, is increasingly closing the net around criminals.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Tackling subversion requires courage and endurance. Courage and endurance of the likes of Minister of Quickenborne, who press on despite threats. Of port workers who stop drug snatchers. And Customs officers who continue to do their inspection work under high pressure in a demanding environment.

We will show that courage and endurance again in 2023. Let our cooperation, information sharing and knowledge exchange pay off further – so that we close the gates to criminals. Today we mark our partnership for the coming year – on to big steps forward in the fight against drug crime in 2023. For a safer Belgium and the Netherlands.

Thank you.