A British man who was arrested at Brussels Airport for attempting to smuggle cocaine inside an artificial penis was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. The unidentified man flew into Belgium on a flight from Jamaica on 8 February and was arrested after testing positive for cocaine. He was taken to a hospital in Brussels for a “more in-depth investigation,” according to Bruzz, where doctors found that the man had equipped himself with an artificial penis where he had hidden 127 grams of cocaine. The man said he had been visiting his mother in Jamaica, where an acquaintance had offered him cocaine, which he agreed to bring back to Belgium for personal use. Prosecutors had originally asked for the man to be jailed for 38 months but since it could not be proven that his action was related to a drug gang, his sentence was reduced to 24 months, half of which was suspended. “My client has kidney failure and needs exercise and a good diet,” the man’s lawyer said. “Both are ...
Legalising cocaine is “an option that people need to dare to consider,” according to the mayor of Antwerp, Bart De Wever (N-VA). De Wever, whose port city is one of the European continent’s major entry points for illegal drugs including cocaine, was interviewed by the authors of a new Dutch book, Nederland, Drugsland, published today. The book, by Volkskrant journalist Jan Tromp and Pieter Tops, a lecturer at Leiden university and at the Dutch police academy, looks at the shadowy side of the drugs trade, and suggests ways it may be tackled. In the book, De Volkskrant reports, De Wever – whose N-VA is the main opposition party in the federal parliament and the largest party in the Flemish government – says he has given up on the illusion that the war against drugs can be won. “ The battle against alcohol and nicotine has also been abandoned,” he says. “Those products are legalised. We accept the social consequences.” He makes it clear, the paper reports, that it would be “hor...