Authorities seized 88 tonnes of cocaine hidden in containers from Latin America this year, nearly 10 times the figure for 2014. This is far more than any other European port, as traffickers flood the continent with so much. of cocaine that it may now be a larger market than the United States, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The resulting injection of cash distorted the city’s economy and strained society. Police, customs officials and a hospital worker were arrested for providing information to cocaine trafficking networks through encrypted applications. Reputable traffickers hire supercars for hundreds of dollars a day and recruit young people with quick cash-flowing looks and flashy lifestyles. Legitimate businesses find it difficult to compete with criminal front businesses that can tolerate large losses.

“It’s a drug economy,” said Kevin Daniels, DEA deputy head of Europe. “It’s a repeat of Miami in the 1980s.”

Antwerp and Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the two largest ports in Europe, are now the main gateway for cocaine to the continent, according to a joint report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and Europol, the police agency of the European Union. Authorities seized less than 10 tonnes in Antwerp in 2014, according to the September report.

Gangs capable of bringing cocaine to land through their connections in ports, many of which are of Moroccan or Albanian origin, have taken power in recent years. The cocaine seized by police this year was worth a few billion euros overall, and likely many more went undetected, officials said.

The influx sparked a wave of gang violence. Restaurants and homes were hit by grenades and gunfire. The message of such attacks may be a warning to rival gangs, pressure on a port official to help a gang, or a devious method to undermine rivals by alerting police that cafe owners may be linked to trafficking. drug.

The liquidity tsunami is distorting Antwerp’s economy, officials say, pushing up prices for real estate and existing businesses.

“Bad money drives out good money,” said Antwerp Mayor Bart De Wever. “They will drive out decent people.”

Some companies have a habit of laundering money, from restaurants to luxury car dealerships. Far more prevalent and pernicious are companies that undermine and disrupt the legal economy, said Yve Driesen, director of the Federal Judicial Police in Antwerp.

Drug traffickers buy restaurants or shops to give the impression that their fortune comes from the legal trade. Shell companies also use legal activities to hide their work related to illegal drugs. For example, a transport company that extracts cocaine from sea containers could also perform legal transport on behalf of multinationals.

“They will win contracts because their prices are lower than their competitors,” said Mr. Driesen.

Other companies have sprung up to serve criminals. Cryptic phone dealers depend on drug gangs who are the only ones who can afford contracts that can cost thousands of dollars a year, officials say. Companies rent luxury cars for the equivalent of $ 1,000 a day and more.

“They can only exist and prosper with the money of local drug criminals,” said Driesen.

To get their drugs through the port, traffickers pay port workers multiples of their monthly wages to move containers for surreptitious unloading, soldering customs officials to help them evade inspections, and prosecutors and police, including senior officers, to avoid the law, officials said. .

“Every layer of society is infected,” said Mayor De Wever.

The highs are pretty easy to miss if you’re not careful, he said, especially for those who live in the wealthier south of town.

Money is pouring into poorer areas with large immigrant populations in the north of the city, where many criminals come from. Criminal gangs donate money to causes, such as youth football teams, to boost their reputations, officials say.

Gangsters can then rely on teens to watch cop license plates or swarm the police to obstruct drug-related arrests. Attracted by the criminal environment, they can work their way up the food chain and earn thousands of dollars as smugglers of small bags of cocaine for gang members riding in fancy cars and wearing expensive costumes.

“It’s not a positive model,” said Mr. Driesen.

The authorities are trying to retaliate, by pooling resources and information between police, prosecutors, customs and other services. Law enforcement and town hall use various powers to shut down restaurants linked to the cocaine money. Associations of port and dockworkers have launched an awareness campaign and a hotline to anonymously report suspicious behavior.

Earlier this year, police infiltrated an encrypted messaging system, downloading around a billion messages that led to hundreds of arrests and sparked many additional investigations, dealing a heavy blow to the gangs here. But officials admit they are fighting a relentless enemy.

“In a few months, other people will take their place, but the experience helps us to develop new strategies”, said Franky De Keyzer, Attorney General of Antwerp. “It’s still a bit of a cat-and-mouse game.”

Write to James Marson at [email protected]