Belgian police conducted some 200 raids simultaneously on Tuesday morning in a coordinated strike against cocaine- and drug-smuggling gangs focused on the port of Antwerp.
The raids, which began around 5am and involved some 1,500 officers, were a joint operation organized by the Belgian prosecutor’s office and prosecutors in Antwerp. The city is home to Europe’s second-busiest port and is often the scene of police and customs operations. It is regularly used as an entry point for criminal gangs importing narcotics into Europe.
Officials say Tuesday’s raids had been planned for more than two years and mainly targeted cocaine smugglers and the organized criminal gangs that support them. A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said that, although the drug gangs had international links, only Belgian authorities were involved in the operation.
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