Belgian bunnies will be a treat for children around the world this Easter weekend, but not all are molded with the country’s famous chocolate praline.
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A batch seized at Brussels International Airport this week was made from a block of MDMA intended to be converted into ecstasy pills, a drug used at raves (techno parties), told AFP Pol Meuleneire, 61 , a Belgian customs veteran.
Considered the gateway to Europe for cocaine manufactured in Latin America, Belgium has also become a hub for synthetic drugs manufactured in Europe and mailed around the world.
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Pol Meuleneire, who will be retiring in a few months, told how times have changed compared to his early career when the discovery of just 10 grams of cannabis in an envelope sparked the excitement of customs officials.
Today his workplace in an office building in the cargo area of Brussels airport is overflowing with suspicious packages and bags and jars full of illegal pills and powders.
Photo Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP
Dark Web and postal packages
“In 2022, we seized almost six tons of drugs at the airport,” said Florence Angelici, spokeswoman for the kingdom’s federal public finance service.
“It circulates all over the world. Now people can order online on the dark web with just a few clicks and have it delivered to their home,” she says.
The counterfeit chocolate bunnies intercepted at Brussels Airport’s cargo terminal had been wrapped and posted in Belgium in a package bound for Hong Kong.
Mr Meuleneire pressed his handheld scanner – a Raman spectroscope that can identify substances by their chemical fingerprint – against the base of a chocolate-colored bunny. The screen flashed green and the scan was clear: “Warning, MDMA (Ecstasy)”.
During the visit by AFP journalists, Mr Meuleneire discovered several other illegal products in packages he received last week, which he opened with his knife.
A Peppa Pig branded lunch box destined for New Zealand seemed normal at first glance, but its packaging was too heavy to be just cardboard and plastic. It was filled with ketamine, an anesthetic used as a recreational drug.
This substance is among the illegal exports most commonly spotted in airport mail centers.
Photo Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP
game for child
But the customs officials find everything. A small drugstore box — a snap — contained a bag of crystal meth, an illegal and addictive synthetic stimulant.
The cocaine is hidden in plastic wrappers between two layers of cardboard, which weighs down the wrapper and makes a seasoned customs officer suspicious.
Antwerp in Belgium is the main import port for cocaine from Latin America to Europe. Some of it is re-exported by mail to countries like Australia, where it is sold for more.
Venezuelan gangs that export narcotics to Europe import synthetic drugs like crystal methamphetamine from Belgium. They are manufactured in laboratories in the Netherlands and Belgium, the Belgian customs authorities explain.
Ketamine, MDMA and methamphetamine are hidden in everyday objects or jars marked as vitamin supplements and then sent from normal post offices in Belgium, France or Germany.
“Smugglers use mules to transport packages and ship them all over the world,” explains Florence Angelici.
At Brussels Airport, a computerized platform selects packages based on known suspicious features, and customs officials set about scanning and, in some cases, opening them.
Among the most startling discoveries, Pol Meuleneire features portraits of Christ with frames stuffed with drugs, teddy bears stuffed with pills, and copper tubes stuffed with veterinary tranquilizers.