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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Jennifer Rankin in Antwerp

Belgium at risk of becoming ‘narco-state’, judge warns

Customs employee and a dog search for drugs during a demonstration in the port of Antwerp
‘The amount of money that is involved … is so big that it is really a danger for the stability of our society.’ Photograph: Olivier Hoslet/EPA

International drug crime poses a danger to social stability in Belgium, a senior judge has said, after his colleague warned the country was evolving into “a narco-state” where mafia groups were forming “a parallel force” in society.

Bart Willocx, the president of the Antwerp court of appeal, said Belgium was vulnerable to criminality from drug smuggling through the city’s vast port, one of the main entry points into Europe for cocaine smugglers.

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