Bombs attacks in Antwerp – generally related to an ongoing drugs turf war – have become a feature of life in the city.
In the early hours of Sunday April 2nd what appears to have been a larger than usual bomb, left on the doorstep of a house in the centre of the city detonated at 3am. The explosion caused damage to 20 homes and five vehicles. Miraculously only one person was injured.
The house targeted is associated with one Xavier P., a 33 year old suspect in an ongoing drug case also involving one Gianni B.
The case involves the importation of at least 11 tons of cocaine through the Port of Antwerp, a major hub for the supply of illegal drugs into Europe and the UK. Xavier P. is reportedly known as “someone with a particularly good network of dock workers.”
[Smugglers] are becoming more and more aggressive. They need information and they need guys who can physically help them. What they do now is they approach you very directly to show pictures of your family, of your kids, of friends. And this is a not a very subtle way of working. It’s a real threat. – Stephan Vanfraechem, managing director of Alfaport Voka, which represents some 300 companies involved in operating the facility.
Belgian authorities revealed a record seizure for 2022 of 110 tons of cocaine in Antwerp, estimated to be only about 10% of what passes through the port. The situation recently led Antwerp’s mayor, Bart de Wever, to call for the the army to be deployed at the port.
