Moroccan Mafia Fuels Drug Trafficking Through Antwerp Port, Corrupting Officials

"The criminal organizations established in Europe develop contacts in the producing countries such as Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Panama, etc. These criminals are in contact with a series of intermediaries who work in transport companies, a hacker who will hack into a computer control system in the port or in a customs agency, financial technicians who will launder the money or convert it into cryptocurrency," explains François Farcy, judicial director of the federal police of Liège, to La dernière Heure.

These intermediaries willingly accept or are forced to play the role of facilitators against several tens of thousands of euros. "For example, a Port employee knows that a certain cargo will arrive by ship at a certain quay. He will therefore go there to facilitate its passage without being checked. A ton of cocaine can sell for millions of euros, so for criminal organizations, paying a docker, a customs officer, a policeman or a security guard a few thousand euros is just a drop in the ocean. The reality is that some employees or officials unfortunately will not ’spit on it’," continues François Farcy.

Mara D. S., 35, a Port of Antwerp employee, paid dearly for her role in the failed cocaine transport operation of 771 kilos in a container. On Friday, she was sentenced by the Antwerp Criminal Court. The Moroccan drug trafficker Younes "El Magico" E.B., the uncle of Firdaous, the 11-year-old girl killed on December 9 in Merksem in a shootout, was sentenced to eight years in prison.