Catherine Delcourt, MR Member of the Federal Parliament, calls for a reinforcement of customs resources at Liège airport to step up the fight against drug trafficking.
Following worrying revelations about the growing use of Liège airport as an entry point for drug trafficking from Latin America, MR Member of the Federal Parliament Catherine Delcourt questioned Minister Jan Jambon, responsible for customs.
For 2024 alone, the figures confirm a worrying situation: nearly 30 kg of cocaine, more than 600 kg of cannabis and more than 3 tonnes of chemical precursors were seized at Bierset, which until recently was seen as a secondary airport in terms of drug trafficking.
“Today, as controls are tightened at hubs such as Antwerp or Zaventem, the networks seem to be turning to Liège, which they see as a less monitored entry point. We cannot let them keep this head start,” warns Catherine Delcourt. “Freight volume is exploding in Liège, routes to Latin America are multiplying, and yet only 5 full-time equivalents are assigned to daily drug detection. While investments have already been made recently, we need to go further.”
Traffic at Liège airport has grown exponentially in recent years, offering traffickers fertile ground to conceal their illicit cargo within the massive flow of legal goods, particularly via e-commerce.
Minister Jambon confirmed that investments are planned: reinforcement of sniffer dog teams, the upcoming arrival of a lorry scanner, followed by the installation of a scanning tunnel for goods pallets, and the development of new digital tools. While this is a step in the right direction, the MR believes things must move faster.
“Faced with international criminal networks that are responsive and well organised, we must invest massively and immediately in control technologies, specialised staff and international cooperation. I am calling for the modernisation of customs services to be accelerated, with concrete resources deployed at Bierset this very year. This is a race against time. And Belgium cannot become the weak link in the European system against drug trafficking,” insists Catherine Delcourt.
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Drug seizures at Liège airport in 2024:
Cocaine 29.54 kg
Opioids 4.86 kg
Cannabis 624.23 kg
Synthetics 6 kg
NPS 66.57 kg
Drug precursors 3,168.78 kg
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