Drugs
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Three suspects were caught at the MPET terminal in the port of Antwerp on Monday evening during the removal of a shipment of cocaine. They were arrested by the investigating judge.
Joris van der Aa, Jarit Taelman and Sacha Van Wiele
Today at 08:06
Around 9 p.m. a number of suspicious people were seen among the containers. When security forces arrived on the scene, they tried to flee. Part of the shipment of cocaine that had to be removed was still on the quay. “It concerns approximately 280 kilos of cocaine,” says prosecutor’s office spokesman Kristof Aerts.
Two drivers of shuttle buses, which transport dock workers on the quay, were arrested on the spot. The third suspect is a 19-year-old security officer, who fled in his official car. He later turned himself in at the headquarters of the Antwerp Police Zone in Berchem.
The fact that shuttle bus drivers appear in major drug files is exceptional, but not entirely surprising. As drivers, they drive up and down the quays to take dock workers to their workplace, or to take workers from their workplace to the canteen.
On Monday evening, the shuttle buses allegedly smuggled a number of evaders onto the quay, with the cooperation of the security officer.
