Belgian drug chief calls on EU to pressure encrypted apps to work with law enforcement
Belgium’s first-ever National Drug Commissioner, Ine Van Wymersch, tells Euronews that the European Union needs to crack down on encrypted messaging platforms that allow drug traffickers to coordinate their criminal operations.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/12/05/belgian-drug-tsar-to-eu-pressure-encrypted-apps-to-work-with-law-enforcement
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00:00My guest today is Belgium's first National Drugs Commissioner, Inna Van Vermes.
00:14She has taken on the role at a time when a spate of drug-related shootings is rocking the country's capital, Brussels.
00:22And its main port in Antwerp has become the major gateway to cocaine entering Europe.
00:27Drugs arriving here are not only destined for the Belgian market, much of it is transported illegally to other European countries,
00:35making this more than just Belgium's problem.
00:39Commissioner, welcome. Thank you so much for joining us.
00:41So we're in Brussels and in this city as well as in Belgium's second city, Antwerp.
00:47We've seen a recent uptick in drug-related violence on our streets.
00:53Is the Belgian government taking enough measures to tackle this problem?
00:58Well, at least there is a sense of urgency and the awareness is high to tackle this problem.
01:04The appointment of a National Drug Commissioner and his agency is, of course, an important step towards developing a national
01:11and even an international strategy to tackle this crime.
01:15And one of the solutions that the new government is putting on the table is putting Belgian soldiers on the streets as early as April next year.
01:25Do you support that move? It's quite controversial here.
01:28Well, at least it is a measure among a lot of other measures that have been taken.
01:33For us it is important to develop not only a clear approach, but also a hold and a build approach.
01:40We were inspired by UK to develop this methodology.
01:44I think it is important that in a first clear phases we take over the streets again
01:50and we show to the citizens that the government is there and that we are ready and that we are taking control
01:56and that we are not losing control.
01:58Of course, we cannot expect from military in the streets that they will solve the root causes of this problem.
02:04We know that we have to develop an educational policy, a poverty policy.
02:11We need to get people back to work.
02:13Just to clarify, does that mean that you've lost control in some parts of the city?
02:17Some people have the idea that there is some kind of loss of control, which is not the case.
02:23Police are working on that, magistrates are working on that,
02:26but we cannot deny that there is an impact on the security and safety feelings of people living in those areas.
02:32Now, an investigating judge in the city of Antwerp said very recently in October that Belgium is a narco state.
02:40Do you agree?
02:40What she said actually was that Belgium should not become a narco state.
02:45And I think that's a very important difference.
02:47We are not a narco state, but we really have to undertake action to prevent that we become a narco state.
02:54Because Europol pointed out also recently that corruption is a main concern.
03:01There is a lot of money going on in this criminal world,
03:06and it's with this money that people are convinced to work with criminals.
03:12And that is when we don't tackle the business model,
03:16then we are having a serious risk to develop towards a narco state.
03:21The investigating judge in question who put out this warning had to go into hiding.
03:27There have been a former justice minister as well who has been at risk tackling these gangs and these structures.
03:35Do you feel safe doing this job?
03:38Well, we cannot be naive.
03:40The enemy we're facing doesn't have any kind of values or ethical standards.
03:46So we have to be aware of a security and a safety risk, of course.
03:51But this cannot make us not handle and not implement a policy that we should implement.
03:57And I think this organized crime has a lot of faces and aspects, but only has one heart, I would say.
04:04And the center of gravity really is the money.
04:07These are the criminal assets.
04:08So I think the fact that they are getting nervous is because we are just focusing on their criminal assets,
04:15because that's really their reason of existing.
04:17I'm wondering, you know, we have some very radical proposals coming on the table from the US president,
04:24for example, Donald Trump, targeting boats in the Caribbean Sea.
04:29Is that something that authorities here in Europe need to contemplate?
04:32Well, the criminal organizations, cocaine traffic is a very complex problem.
04:38So it only deserves and demands complexity in our answers.
04:42We have to know where the new routes are going to, to be able to put barriers in all logistic chains.
04:49Because if we tackle the logistic chains, the logistics that they are abusing to put up their business,
04:56we are really causing these criminal organizations serious difficulties.
05:00Because even if they change products, whether they are importing cocaine or precursors to fabric synthetical drugs,
05:08they are all coming through the same logistic chains.
05:12And to do that, I'm assuming that international work is very important and working with European partners.
05:18Do we need more cooperation at the European level?
05:22Is Brussels, in the sense of the EU institutions, doing enough to support?
05:26Well, we are in close contact with the EU Commission, of course, and we collaborate also to the EU strategy.
05:33We consider it as a global problem.
05:36We need to tackle it on a global level and on a local level on the same time.
05:41Where we need more pressure, I think, from the European institutions,
05:45it's really to put these big companies under pressure that are bringing their encrypted communication tools,
05:53for example, to our market, to force them to collaborate with law enforcement.
05:58These are things that we can do on a European level.
06:02Same thing is to implement the ISPS codes.
06:05These are the security measures that are taken in the ports to avoid terrorist attacks,
06:11but we have to enlarge them towards organized crime.
06:15And these are all steps that need to be taken on a European level,
06:18and I know that people are really working on that.
06:21So when you say encrypted communication services, we're talking about things like Telegram.
06:25Telegram, Signal, and all these kind of tools,
06:29they are really facilitating not only legal communication, but also illegal communication.
06:35We see that criminal organizations are really taking advantage of the fact that these companies are not very keen on collaborating with law enforcement.
06:47And if we accept that there is like a digital space where these criminals can talk freely,
06:54we are really losing our freedom at the end.
06:57I know that you are a mum yourself, and that you also worked as a juvenile prosecutor.
07:02Children are also at risk in all of this.
07:05When it comes to the situation in Belgium, what do you see as the biggest risks when it comes to children,
07:10both in terms of consumption, but also when it comes to them being recruited into criminal gangs and so on?
07:18Children are at risk because we see that mental health is really an issue.
07:25So I think we have to invest in mental health and in resilience.
07:29If we are managing towards schools, sports with the parents to create a resilient generation,
07:37then they are resilient for all kinds of problems and also recruitment by criminal organizations.
07:43On the other hand, we cannot be naive.
07:45I'm very concerned, for example, about illegal vapes.
07:50We see that the seizures that we've done of illegal refill capsules for vapes,
07:57that they are more than 80% is containing synthetical opioids.
08:02And they don't have a specific smell or color.
08:05And criminal organizations are abusing this whole logistic network of selling points of these vapes.
08:13So I'm very happy that our Minister of Public Health took the decisions that the tastes,
08:20these cherry tastes and everything of vapes, will be forbidden soonly,
08:25because criminal organizations are taking advantage of that to introduce synthetical opioids to very young children.
08:33So we really have to be aware that everything can be abused by criminal organizations.
08:41Same thing, it's about social media.
08:43We really have to be present on these social media platforms to bring a counter-narrative.
08:50In Brussels, a lot of children, youngsters, complain that they don't find a student job,
08:55that they don't find a place for a traineeship.
08:58I really think we have to offer them these chances to get a degree in school,
09:06because if we don't do this as private and public partners in a big city as Brussels,
09:12criminal organizations will offer them a criminal career.
09:15This issue of the synthetic drugs being introduced in vapes, this is very serious.
09:20What are the risks to our children?
09:24Well, the risk is that they will be addicted on a very young age,
09:27that their brain will not develop the way it should be.
09:30These are serious health risks, and we need to protect them from that
09:35by taking measures against all these logistic chain issues that are abused for synthetical drugs.
09:43And we see that Belgium, together with the Netherlands, is an important production country of synthetical drugs.
09:51And they are fabriqued based on products, precursors, chemicals that are coming from China and India mainly.
09:59They have a legal purpose.
10:00We have a strong petrochemical industry.
10:02We have a strong pharmaceutical industry.
10:05But they are misused, and they are used for the fabrics of syntheticals.
10:12And also, Europe needs to think about a way to avoid that these chemicals are entering our territory.
10:22Finally, Commissioner, what we're referencing here, synthetic drugs, things like fentanyl,
10:28which we've seen really skyrocket in the US, in Canada, and North America.
10:34Are we immune to this problem in Belgium, in Europe,
10:37or could we also face the same kind of situation as they're facing over the Atlantic?
10:40Well, we have very close contacts with DEA, for example.
10:45And the question is not if we will have fentanyl, but the question is when will we see fentanyl.
10:50And I'm convinced that we will see fentanyl in a different way than in the US,
10:54because our healthcare system, etc., is different.
10:57But we see that criminal organizations might use fentanyl to mix it with cocaine, for example.
11:04And then fentanyl is becoming an addiction accelerator, for example.
11:09The craving period is shorter, so people will be demanding for more cocaine in a shorter time.
11:17It's a bit like Swedes in nutrition.
11:19They will use fentanyl in drugs that are already used on the European territory.
11:24So that is why we are very aware and supporting the European awareness system, for example.
11:30And finally, to close off, is this with fentanyl happening currently in Belgium?
11:36In Belgium, not yet.
11:37But, of course, I can base myself only on what we see.
11:41And we don't see everything, for sure.
11:43But we don't have a fentanyl issue as we have it in the US.
11:49But it is entering Europe, for sure.
11:52Commissioner, thank you so much for your time today.
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