BRUSSELS (AP) – Belgian police launched an operation of unprecedented scale against organized crime on Tuesday, according to the country’s federal prosecutor´s office.
About 200 searches mobilizing more than 1,200 police officers were carried out simultaneously throughout the country of 11.5 million people, the office told The Associated Press.
A spokesperson at the prosecutor’s office said searches started at around 5 a.m.. According to broadcaster RTBF, the searches mainly took place in the region of Antwerp, and investigators focused on drug traffickers and a crime network with international connections.
With thousands of shipping containers reaching Antwerp every day, the Belgian port city is one of Europe´s main entry ports for cocaine. Trafficking in the city has led to a surge of violence recently, with gun battles and grenade attacks taking place.
Last year, authorities in Belgium and three other countries dismantled a criminal drug trafficking network that shipped hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cocaine into Western Europe. The investigation, which started when a container with 2.8 tons of cocaine was found last year in Antwerp, uncovered an international network with connections in at least four European countries and South America.