Belgian police run out of incinerators to burn cocaine after seizing a record 100 tonnes this year

Belgium has seized so much cocaine from smugglers operating through the port of Antwerp that it needs more incinerator space to destroy it, officials said Monday.

The massive police stash has been given the nickname the 'cocaine-berg,' with more than 100 tonnes on track to be amassed by the end of the year.

Authorities are concerned that depots used to store the drugs could become targets for robberies by powerful gangs seeking to recover their lucrative cargoes.

Antwerp is awash with drugs imported from South America, which are then transported across Europe. This is the moment customs discovered a stash of cocaine, part of 90 tonnes found last year 

Antwerp is spread over 47 square miles and has emerged as the epicentre of Europe’s trade in cocaine, partly because it has long been a gateway port for goods imported into Europe from South America

'There's a problem with incinerator capacity,' Belgian customs service spokesman Francis Adyns told AFP, confirming reports in the local press promising that 'a structural solution is on the way.'

Officials in the Flanders regional government said a plan could be announced as soon as Tuesday.

Belgium's latest problem stems from the astronomical quantities of cocaine from Latin America which are intercepted in Antwerp, Europe's main port of entry for the illegal trade.   

According to local press reports, suspected gang members have been seen using drones to scout around customs depots housing seized cocaine worth millions of euros.

Authorities are working quickly to destroy the seizures but, Adyns said, to incinerate cocaine 'there are environmental standards to be met.'  

Antwerp - spread over 47 square miles - has emerged as the epicentre of Europe’s trade in cocaine, partly because it has long been a gateway port for goods imported into Europe from South America. 

Packages of cocaine are seen stacked in Antwerp, Belgium, in this photo released by the Federal Judicial Police Antwerp on April 6, 2021

Its existing shipping links meant that Columbian drug cartels increasingly decided to use it as an global hub to import cocaine destined for lucrative markets in Europe, Russia and the Middle East.

The increase in supply is also meeting the growing demand for cocaine in Europe, where it is increasingly seen as being more socially acceptable.

The well honed operations of gangsters able to corrupt workers and officials to help move cocaine out of Antwerp has made the city even more attractive to the cartels.

Its convenient position next to the Netherlands, where much of the imported cocaine is cut and packaged before being sent onward, is also a factor.  

Earlier this year, an Albanian gangster was shot dead outside his Antwerp home amid a bloody war for control of the city's lucrative cocaine trade.

Beldar Muca was shot six times he returned to his flat just yards from a police station, with authorities claiming that it bore all the hallmarks of a contract killing.

After scanning his HGV, which had arrived from Belgium, the officers detected an anomaly in the load

Upon further inspection of the trailer, they discovered 20 kilos of cocaine wrapped in blue and green shrink-wrapped packages, hidden in the centre of reels of paper cord