How organized crime recruits children in Belgium: Easy money, emojis, and threats

The job involves smuggling the drugs out as quickly as possible without being seen. After the cocaine arrives camouflaged within the enormous flow of legal goods or hidden on ships at the port terminal, the couriers enter the scene. Sometimes, after jumping the fence. On other occasions, after waiting for days in containers equipped with toilets, sleeping bags, and junk food, or food that’s easy to cook. In Belgium and the Netherlands, home to the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam, the largest in Europe, they are called uithalers (extractors, in Dutch). And it’s a phenomenon that has put authorities on alert because criminal organizations have expanded their recruitment networks. Increasingly, young people, even minors, are being sought out to carry out these tasks, one of the most dangerous links in the drug trafficking chain.

“Most are Belgian or Dutch and are between 18 and 30 years old, but there are also many minors,” warns An Berger, spokesperson for the Belgian Federal Police. In recent months, cases have skyrocketed in Antwerp, the continent’s second-largest port and the main entry point for cocaine trafficked into Europe. In 2024, 100 uithalers were arrested in the city of half a million inhabitants, and 16 of them were aged under 18. This year, there have already been more than 200 arrests, and 40 of those were minors when apprehended, according to the latest official figures.

“They’re children,” says lawyer Chantal van den Bosch, who has practiced in the Belgian city since the mid-1980s and has seen the age of her clients drop “drastically.” The youngest, a boy accused of selling drugs on the street, was 13 when he appeared before a judge. “We have 14- or 15-year-olds dealing drugs or scavenging them from garbage containers,” she laments. “Sometimes I jokingly tell the police that they should have a corner of the station filled with teddy bears.”

In the very heart of the European Union, criminal organizations see young boys as ideal laborers to use as drug mules, lookouts, and couriers at the port terminal, where the vast majority of the more than 500 tons of cocaine seized in Belgium between 2019 and 2024, according to official figures, have been found. No other European country has seized more during that period.

Motorcycles, phones and video games

The bait is usually cast through social media, on apps like Snapchat — where messages disappear after a set time — or Telegram, where private chats often escape censorship, according to local press. Europol highlights in a report published last year that criminal groups not only use the most popular platforms among young people. They also mimic the techniques of influencers to be more effective in approaching potential recruits. Their messages are full of memes and emojis, and they present tasks as if they were “missions” or part of a “video game,” the agency warns.

Other contributing factors include the need for a sense of belonging, the exploitation of economic hardship, the glamorous portrayal of the lifestyle of those involved in criminal activities, and a lack of opportunities. In the second quarter of the year, unemployment in Belgium among 15- to 24-year-olds was 14.5%, while the overall rate was 5.9%. Belgian authorities indicate that the most active drug trafficking groups are also those most heavily involved in recruiting minors, such as those from Albania, the Netherlands, and Belgian-Moroccan gangs, who use them for an increasingly wide range of crimes, from petty drug dealing to extortion.

“It’s not by chance, it’s calculated,” Europol maintains. Online recruitment expands the reach of criminal networks, reduces the likelihood of detection, and makes face-to-face meetings for planning operations less necessary. “By using young people, criminal networks seek to reduce their own risks and shield themselves from law enforcement,” it adds. While an adult who collects drugs can face up to 40 months in prison, minors cannot legally go to jail in Belgium and are instead sent to juvenile detention centers. They are also easily replaceable in the eyes of criminal organizations. “When one is arrested, there are 10 others waiting or ready to do the same,” Van den Bosch laments.

“The big problem with cocaine trafficking is that there’s a lot of money involved,” Berger explains. The official details that the payment offered to young people varies enormously depending on the job. A boy recruited as a lookout, for example, can earn between €100 and €150 ($117-$176) per day, she notes. A drug dealer “might earn a little more.” Van den Bosch says they receive about €10 for each order delivered. But in the case of uithalers, the sums can reach several thousand euros, according to the testimonies of those who have been arrested. “I received €40,000 ($47,030),” a former Dutch courier told the NOS television network last year. After struggling to find work, he was recruited after seeing a post on Snapchat. He was sentenced to six months in prison after being arrested in Belgium.

In other cases, it’s not always necessary to offer large payments or resort to sophisticated recruitment methods. “Sometimes a friend comes up to them and says, ‘Hey, do you want a moped? I have a good job for you,’” says Berger. “Occasionally, they tell us they were given a PlayStation or a cell phone, but it depends a lot on what they’re asked to do,” adds Van den Bosch. “At first, they think it’s easy money; they’re just thinking about the bling,” adds the 62-year-old lawyer, in an effort to speak the same language as her clients. “They’re unaware of the consequences, and once they’re in, it’s very difficult to get out because they’re threatened or their families are intimidated,” she adds.

“Trojan container” method

“It’s extremely dangerous because they’re venturing into unfamiliar territory,” says Berger about those who take risks in the port to collect the shipments. Ninety percent of the cocaine that arrives in Europe from South America does so by sea. But the enormous quantities of drugs detected in ports have forced authorities in several countries across the continent to increase security and surveillance. The task is further complicated by the sheer volume of goods transported by sea. Antwerp alone, whose port terminal covers an area equivalent to more than 22,000 football fields, sees 14 million containers pass through annually, and generic information alone is insufficient to recover the shipments.

Often, the scavengers are tasked with removing merchandise before it goes through port inspection or recovering shipments that are practically considered lost. Berger says they sometimes receive a map and specific coordinates for retrieving them. Occasionally, they scale fences with ropes or row inflatable boats to the terminal, according to local press reports.

Some operations, however, are extremely dangerous, known in criminal slang as the “Trojan container” method. This involves placing the uithalers inside empty shipping containers, where they remain for days until they find an opportunity to leave and collect cocaine from another container, or until a collaborating port worker gives them the signal to do so. In December 2023, six couriers had to be rescued in Antwerp after being trapped in a container for a week. In January 2024, 19 people, including six minors, were found in a Trojan container in Rotterdam.

Van den Bosch asserts that, in addition to the increase in statistics, the profile of recruits has become more diverse, at least in the case of her clients. “There are minors who come from difficult situations, who see others who have a lot, or need the money,” she concedes. But there are also some from privileged backgrounds, without any family or socialization problems. “Some see it as an adventure,” the lawyer says. “When they get caught, they realize it’s not a game, that they can’t just hit the reset button and start over.”

Recent reports from the Antwerp local police highlight the infiltration of criminal groups among young people, such as the three boys, aged 15, 16, and 17, arrested on November 5 with a butterfly knife, scales, resealable bags, cash, and drugs hidden in their underwear. Another minor was arrested two days later in the city center with 22 bags of cocaine and just under €800. Van den Bosch believes that prevention must be prioritized, offering young people alternatives to avoid falling into criminal networks. “We cannot give up,” she says, before returning to the files piling up in her office.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition