Belgium is a major hub for cocaine in Europe, with the drug flooding the continent via the port of Antwerp. Violence is also escalating in some districts of Brussels, with shootings and drug deals in plain sight becoming everyday occurrences for some people.
00:01Drug deals and violence in broad daylight, gunfire in the middle of a residential area.
00:07It is very horrible to live here, very scared every time.
00:10A deadly drug war is threatening to overwhelm Belgium,
00:13with the whole system struggling to stem a tidal wave of cocaine-fueled violence.
00:18We've never had anything like this before. Things have become dramatically worse.
00:23How could this small country become one of Europe's drug hotspots?
00:28And what are authorities doing to tackle it?
00:31We've spoken to the police, to drug addicts, to experts and politicians as we investigate.
00:40Police officers Stephen and Danny regularly deal with violence and drug deals in the Belgian capital, Brussels.
00:48It started just a few years ago.
00:50Turf wars broke out as gangs rushed to profit from the soaring demand.
00:55Almost everyone is using cocaine now.
00:58We can see it on surveillance cameras.
01:01It's happening at all levels of society.
01:04It's not just your classic drug addicts, also workers, employees, even executives.
01:11We follow the officers to their next mission, a drug-related incident in the Brussels district of Saint-Gilles.
01:17A local dealer was here dealing drugs. The man wanted to take a photo of him, perhaps to give to the police.
01:26The dealers noticed that the man was filming. They attacked the gentleman, beat him up and took off.
01:33Stephen is fed up of seeing things like this happening. He became a police officer 30 years ago to make this city a safer place.
01:45Brussels is his hometown, but he has moved away into the suburbs to escape the escalating violence, at least when he's off duty.
01:52Suddenly everyone's alarmed. The media is here because of the shootings, but we've been saying things are getting worse here for 10 years.
02:01The signs were all there, but nobody listened to the residents or the police.
02:08We'll hear more later on what he thinks should have happened already. But let's look at some numbers first.
02:18In 2024, Brussels saw 92 shootings. Nine people were killed and 48 injured, a sharp rise from the year before.
02:27In the Belgian capital's troubled Anderlecht district, the fear amongst residents is rising.
02:32It is very horrible to live here, very scared every time.
02:35For example, walking on the street in the evening, it's all so dangerous.
02:41It's an area long forgotten by politicians. We've really been neglected.
02:50Let's unpack. Where are the drugs fueling this violence coming from?
02:56The cocaine is mostly produced in South America and then gets shipped to Europe.
03:01One of the biggest entry points is the Belgian port of Antwerp. From there, it finds its way across Europe.
03:08In 2024, Belgium customs intercepted 44 tons of cocaine here. Less than the year before, and still only the tip of the iceberg, says criminologist Stephen de Beau, who knows in depth the extent of Belgium's war on drugs.
03:23In the last decade or so, ten years, probably already the price of cocaine on the street market, it said it's about 50 euro for one gram.
03:33It has stayed the same. So this is one way of knowing that we're not really able to lower supply in a substantial way.
03:4436-year-old Jay knows this all too well. He started using crack cocaine in 2016, following in his brother's footsteps.
03:54Despite the warnings, he took that fast hit, and it cost him everything. His job, his apartment, and eventually his place in society.
04:02Cocaine in Brussels, it's everywhere. That's the problem. I'm a user. I tried to stop, but it's impossible. I do whatever it takes to get 10 euros to buy it. People ask if I'm going to eat. No, I say. I need that 10 euros for crack. I'll eat after.
04:24At Gate, which is Brussels' first supervised drug consumption centre, crack and other substances can be taken in safer, more managed conditions.
04:35Bruno Volkaneers has worked here for many years. He says the centre was set up not just to prevent overdoses, but also to shield the public from disturbing scenes and discarded needles.
04:45But for him, the real issue runs deeper than drug use itself.
04:49This isn't a crack crisis. It's a social crisis. Unless we tackle the deep social inequalities behind it, more and more people will be pushed out of society. These are people who need help, who deserve to be supported.
05:10Since 2023, Jay gets help here now. But there's a fragile line between survival and relapse.
05:17I've been living on the street for almost a year. I can't take it anymore. I tried to get clean. I had a job, even went to France to work. I had stopped completely. When I came back here, though, the first thing I did was use again.
05:32Officers like Stephen say that cutting off supply could help people like Jay and keep others from falling into the same trap.
05:39But he says with too little funding and too few staff, catching dealers is hard. And when they do, many are undocumented and are simply told to leave the country, but they rarely do.
05:49I feel just as much a victim as the people here, because they're counting on me to find a solution. I do my job, but nothing ever changes.
06:02We confronted the Belgian interior minister with these accusations of too little funding and personnel shortages.
06:09Yes, there are challenges, but we're working together to overcome them. In the years ahead, both the federal police and local forces will be fully equipped to carry out their full duties, whether that's intervention work or community policing, which is obviously just as essential.
06:25Meantime, barriers have been put up at the sites of recent shootings. But are they really a solution to stopping the shootings and drug dealing?
06:35Cut off one head and two more grow back, like a dragon. That's how this works. It's too lucrative. One man's death is another's paycheck. That won't stop any time soon.
06:51I have not the impression that it will stop tomorrow.
06:56Fabrice Kumms has been the mayor of Anderlecht for five years. He knows that arresting dealers could help curb supply, so we asked him why so many are still on the streets.
07:06Our police are constantly on the ground, making arrests. More than a thousand last year alone. Most of those picked up are vulnerable, undocumented, and constantly being replaced by more.
07:16So what does he think needs to happen to tackle the problem on a larger scale?
07:23The entry point is the port of Antwerp. That's where steps need to be taken. Customs has to carry out more thorough checks on all incoming containers.
07:32We hear this is not only a Belgian problem. It goes far beyond the waters of Antwerp.
07:39Of course, what happens in the port of Antwerp influences Europe. Because if the port of Antwerp is more or less successful in catching amounts of cocaine, this influences the amount of cocaine on the market.
07:54So in that sense, you could also look at Europe to invest in port of Antwerp to really scan more containers or be more efficient.
08:07A booming global drug trade connected to poverty and social neglect.
08:12While officers like Stephen do what they can on the streets, the roots of this crisis run much deeper.
08:17And unless Europe acts together, the violence is unlikely to stop.
