Belgium arrests 7 for trying to steal big cocaine haul
Belgian authorities have arrested seven Dutch citizens for an attempted armed heist on a warehouse holding 10 tonnes of seized cocaine, prosecutors said on Thursday. The narcotics were seized on Tuesday by customs at the sprawling port of Antwerp, the biggest gateway for cocaine being smuggled into Europe, and stored in a nearby warehouse. The cocaine was concealed in a shipment of soy flour. The country of shipment was not specified. Later that day a man at the site was threatened by several armed suspects, who eventually fled in a van registered in the Netherlands, a statement from Antwerp prosecutors said. Thanks to witness testimony the van was intercepted on a major highway in the city and the suspects arrested. Three handguns were also found in the vehicle, the prosecutors said. The suspects, all Dutch men aged between 22 and 35, are accused of attempted armed robbery, membership of a criminal organisation and weapons offences. A record 109.9 tonnes of cocaine were seized at Antwerp port in 2022. (AFP)