[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] It’s Belgium. They were corrupt already. - Antwerp, the Belgian port city, a major shipping hub, is awash with cocaine imported from South America
- With cocaine comes money and gangsters spreading their cash and influence across the city
- Last year a record 90 tonnes of cocaine worth €13bn was found at Antwerp's port, but is believed to be only 10% of the drug smuggled through the port
- The city's mayor Bart De Wever was recently placed under 24/7 police protection following claims that drugs gangs wanted to assassinate him
- Chief prosecutor Franky De Keyzer likened the war on drug gangs to being 'a cat-and-mouse game' where criminals battle to stay a step ahead of the law
- Law enforcement officials and port workers have been targeted by gangs with huge sums of money in return for allowing drugs containers through
- They offer customs officers €50k-€80k a time to hide containers carrying drugs cargos or swap them for legitimate ones before seizures are made
- Last year a network of corrupt officials was uncovered many of them with access to government databases of personal records of all Belgian citizens
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