Brussels
Record Cocaine, Raging Violence: Antwerp’s Year-in-Review
The murder of an accused drug kingpin’s niece in Antwerp on Monday night came just hours before a joint Belgian-Dutch announcement that 2022 was, once again, a record-setting year for cocaine seizures in the port of Antwerp. The 11-year-old girl died after unknown gunmen fired into a garage in
What Happens When the Cartel Decides You're Dirty
If you work for a drug cartel, it can be surprisingly hard to get fired for utter incompetence. On the other hand, the easiest way to die a horrible death at the hands of your colleagues is for them to become convinced that you’ve been talking to the cops.
When Europe Took the Cocaine Crown from the U.S.
After dethroning the United States last year as the world’s single-largest cocaine market, Europe appears set to hang onto the title for the foreseeable future: A few months into 2022, the continent has broken the all-time record for single seizures, with the busy ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp playing
Welcome to Gateway
One night in Beirut, about 10 years ago, I walked into a French bistro to catch up with a longtime source at a European intelligence service. Before that, he’d spent years as an undercover cop working on organized crime, a portfolio that included drug investigations. As the night wore
