Belgian customs seized more than 43 tons of cocaine in the port of Antwerp in the first half of the year, which is 21 percent more than in the same period of 2022, according to AFP.

This volume of 43.43 tons exceeds that which was intercepted for the whole of 2017 (41.16 tons).

In recent years, the number of seizures in Antwerp, which has become the main gateway to Europe for cocaine produced in South America, has been increasing from record to record, amid an increase in consumption on the Old Continent.

In 2022, almost 109.9 tons of white powder were recovered. The symbolic threshold of 100 tons was exceeded for the first time.

In the first half of 2023, almost half of the intercepted volumes came from three countries: Ecuador (10.42 tons), Panama (5.26 tons) and Brazil (3.45 tons).

Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic have joined the “five” main countries that bring cocaine by sea, the customs said at a presentation in Beveren near Antwerp.

The preferred method of traffickers remains “extortion”, which consists in hiding drugs in a cargo (usually a container) without the knowledge of the sender and recipient of the declared goods.

To combat the traffic, customs wants to involve private terminal operators and the port’s management company in scanning as many containers as possible, a project that is ongoing.