This weekend, a similar seizure was made on the side of Jabbeke, in West Flanders. There, nine Colombians were arrested. The laboratory was located on an abandoned farm. “”Cocaine powder was produced on the basis of cocaine paste. This powder was then compressed in the form of blocks “according to the prosecution. “”We have elements that prove that 60 kilograms have been produced. “
Record entry near Liège: 97 kg of cocaine and a network dismantled in an isolated house in Faimes
The phenomenon of the members of the cartels sent to Europe is not new but is gaining momentum and is structured like a “classic” company. “”The traffickers are faced with reinforced controls with airports and ports. It therefore becomes more and more complicated to bring cocaine in a classic way, by a container for example “indicates François Farcy, director of the federal judicial police (PJF) in Liège. “”One of their parades is to hide cocaine in other supports. It can be liquefied and imbued in textiles, coca mulch, coal. This forces them to have extraction laboratories in Europe. By chemical process, they extract cocaine to crystallize it and make cocaine conditioned in brick. This was the case in Faimes last week. “
Extraction training given to Belgians
This is how South American chemists are brought to come to Belgium to carry out this cocaine extraction operation. “”These people worked in clandestine labos in the jungle. Little by little, they form people in Belgium to do this work and maximize their profits. In this way, the chain becomes professional. The opposite phenomenon is also observed. Methamphetamines and ecstasy have been a Belgian-Now specialty since the 1990s. Belgian individuals will therefore train South American so that drugs can be manufactured there too “continues François Farcy.
A clandestine laboratory was right next to an animal refuge in Feluy: “We found several dead cats before its discovery”
A Europol report published in 2022 already alerted to the phenomenon. The drug traffickers send different “profiles” to operate in Belgium. We find brokers from the cartel, for example, from Sinaloa to Mexico who bring in contact South American suppliers to European distributors. “Cooks”, specialized in the production of methamphetamine and working with European producers. Logisticians who are responsible for purchases, transport and logistics. Finally, there are money laundering specialists who provide financial services to South American Cartels, repatriating millions of euros in profits.
