00:00Belgian customs will start using military radar systems to monitor private aircraft more closely in a bid to combat smuggling, according to officials.
00:12The move comes as authorities acknowledge that smugglers are taking advantage of limited oversight at small airports and heliports across the country.
00:22Private planes are often used to transport drugs, weapons, cash, and illicit goods, with little to no scrutiny.
00:31There are thousands of flights that happen in Belgium.
00:35The bus concentrates all its efforts and controls on the six airports the most important, but the 150 others were really blind spots for us.
00:46To improve monitoring, a customs officer will be placed in Belgium's National Airspace Security Centre.
00:52With stepped-up surveillance, authorities expect detections involving private aircraft to rise.
