Antwerp (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – In the current year, the Maritime Police have arrested 131 suspected drug hauliers in Antwerp’s port. This exceeds the number of people arrested in 2024, which totalled 128. It is interesting to note that an increasing number of juveniles are being arrested for this offence. 31 minors were arrested by the Maritime Police in the first four months of 2024.
In the first four months of 2025, the Maritime Police seized 131 drug traffickers at the Port of Antwerp, bringing the total number of arrests made in the whole of 2024 to 128). What is of significant concern is the increased involvement of the young offenders, with 31 juveniles detained in the current year – a remarkable increase from the 16 cases reported last year, as reported by VRT.
Most of the people arrested are “eviscerators,” individuals called to remove narcotics from containers. Gangs are using vulnerable teenagers to carry out drug operations, so the police have stepped up their surveillance and have even brought in a stronger, specialised team, such as the Port Security Corps to their anti-trafficking war.
In the first four months of 2025, the Antwerp Port Maritime Police performed 131 drug arrests, which were overwhelmingly those of eviscerators who extracted illicit substances from containers. Such numbers already exceed the 128 arrests of 2024, with 98 of the arrests being drug-related. If this trend continues, there may be more arrests in 2025 than the recorded 150 in 2023. The officials claim that traffickers are switching over to lesser drug movements; therefore, there are continued arrests of small extraction teams, and new teams fill into the existing positions.
What is the historical context behind rising drug arrests at Antwerp Port?
The increase of drug arrests in Antwerp’s port comes from the transformation of Antwerp’s port into Europe’s leading cocaine destination. In the past few years, Antwerp has become a major trafficking hub for drug cartels, especially from South America, who package their drugs with day-to-day items such as bananas and timber for transportation in shipping containers.
Since 2020-23, law enforcement has been intercepting large quantities of cocaine, and last year alone, 116 tons were seized, which is a record. Large smuggling networks involved in these activities are mostly run by transnational criminal groups, manipulating sophisticated logistics and bribes in the port environment, as reported by Brussels Times.
The port’s superior location, cutting-edge facilities and massive container transit offer traffickers a favourable environment for smuggling and eluding seizure. With an increasing number of drugs coming through the port, gang rivalries have increased, and criminals are spreading further into the city, even reaching Antwerp’s heart neighbourhoods.
