Mexican narcos increase methamphetamine production in Belgium and Holland
Jean Georges Almendras 08 March 2024
Arthur Debruyne presents his book: “The Mexican method. The invisible side of crystal in the Netherlands”

“I found myself investigating the case of a shipment of methamphetamines arriving in Uruguay. A historic case, because never before had a shipment of synthetic drugs coming from Europe been intercepted. In Uruguay it's always the other way around, cocaine starts from there. This happened in May 2020, in the port of Montevideo, where a load of 42 kg was intercepted. of methamphetamine from the Netherlands. This shows that this new methamphetamine trade in Belgium and the Netherlands has had significant growth thanks to the presence of Mexicans who are also weaving new export networks, new routes to places not previously frequented. This is due to greater production, because the Mexicans brought the know-how to produce much larger quantities than what was known before."

The person speaking to me in these terms is a Belgian journalist who lives in Argentina and who last year, during research for a book of which he is the author, contacted me and I offered him information on issues related to drug trafficking in South-Italy. America, Uruguay and Italy. The colleague is Arthur Debruyne who I interviewed a few days ago in Buenos Aires. On this occasion he gave me the good news of the launch of his book ("The Mexican method. The invisible side of crystal in the Netherlands" ) , for the moment in Brussels and Holland, announcing that in the next few months it would be translated into Spanish.

In a global context, as regards transnational drug trafficking (and where the 'Ndrangheta - a long-standing Italian criminal organization - is master, possessing a very clear monopoly of the routes in Latin America, where voluminous loads of cocaine transit to different points of the Europe), having the opportunity to dialogue with a colleague who has explored an equally worrying aspect, such as that of the production of methamphetamine in Belgium and Holland, becomes a highly valuable contribution that takes us into the depths of another criminal iceberg. Uniceberg spread across the world affecting different human societies, each with its own characteristics. It is looming that the production of these crystals - within drug consumption markets - could prove to be a potential competitor to the cocaine industry, globally.

In a calm tone, Artuhr Debruyne goes back to the period before his project. He cuts to the chase: “ I lived in Mexico from the beginning of 2017 until March last year. I settled there as a correspondent for the Belgian media, especially the Netherlands, for seven years, for a newspaper that deals with economic and financial topics, so I also found myself covering politics and other topics. In Mexico, I quickly realized that the violence of drug trafficking cannot be ignored. I realized that any topic, even that of immigration, for example, when I went to interview immigrants, traveling around the country, you realize that there are drug trafficking gangs, there are criminal structures that dedicated themselves to human trafficking or kidnapped immigrants to extort them.

book the retro mexican method

In Mexico, wherever I went I faced the problem of the absence of the State in the face of the advancement of organized crime. So little by little I explored topics such as drug trafficking, delinquency, insecurity. And a few years ago I realized that they were coming from Mexican Belgium and Holland to produce methamphetamine. The authorities of the two countries dismantled methamphetamine laboratories and there were always Mexican cooks. I realize the omnipresence of organized crime in Mexico and everything that disappearances and murders imply. Mexico is a country where things happen that would be unthinkable in other countries, for example Belgium and Holland ."

Deeply motivated by the journalistic spirit of giving himself answers and then offering them to the world, on an extremely hot and harmful topic, the idea of ??this - not at all easy - project of his began to take shape.

“ From my office in Mexico I realized that Mexican cartels are establishing themselves in Belgium and Holland and I decided to investigate the topic. At that time methamphetamine was almost not produced in Belgium and Holland and, at that point, I said to myself that the Mexicans certainly had a very important role in the theme and hence the title of the book 'The Mexican Method', because those chefs Mexicans are masters of a production method, a synthesis method, which they have perfected over the years, naturally in Mexico, because Mexico has been exporting methamphetamines to the USA since the 2000s and beyond. It is precisely in Mexico, thanks to widespread corruption, that the narcos were allowed to reach the power they have today, and it is there where many young people have developed certain skills to produce drugs for the US market and then expand to Belgium and Holland, and obviously in other places in the world ”.

Does the Italian 'Ndrangheta contribute to the methamphetamine trade through links with Dutch narcos?
The 'Ndrangheta doesn't figure in my book. They specialize in cocaine. The production of synthetic drugs in Belgium and the Netherlands, although these countries have specialized in the production of synthetic drugs for decades now, the money circulating in this area is lower when compared to the money circulating through cocaine trafficking. So, you know that ports like Antwerp in Belgium and others in Holland are the main ones for the entry of cocaine into Europe and there are obviously famous cases, there are famous criminals, who are known to work with Italian mafiosi.
I must say that I have found no evidence, I have found no indications, of the involvement of Italian mafias. It is a traffic dominated by Dutch narcos, often second or third generation narcos who have been producing drugs since the seventies and eighties, and who really dominate that traffic. Previously it was believed... when those Mexican narcos appeared, there was a certain concern, that they were Mexican cartels, that they even had a design to dominate the production of drugs in Belgium and Holland, but it was always the opposite. It was the Dutch narcos who used their connections with the Mexican ones and then put them aside.
It's actually a difficult business in which people from outside to identify themselves, be they Mexicans or Italians, it's a very hermetic trade. It is the Dutch who dominate the entry into the country of chemists who know where to find places to build laboratories, speak the language, have networks. It's really a very very airtight trade as I said before. Synthetic drugs arrive all over the world from Belgium and Holland, ecstasy tablets are exported to South America, the United States and Asia. They actually dominate the production of synthetic drugs.

almendras arthur debruyne

Do the earnings have to be exorbitant?
Yes, of course, because methamphetamine is a drug in high demand worldwide and the price is higher than that of other drugs. For this reason the Dutch wanted to work with this drug.

Competition against cocaine?
“Globally, the amphetamine market is much larger than that of other synthetic drugs, such as ecstasy or classic amphetamine. However, there is competition with cocaine. Even the UN says crystal is a cheaper alternative to cocaine. Cocaine in European countries continues to be a status drug, dear. Methamphetamine is getting cheaper and cheaper. So yes, there is some competition.”

Is the political system in Holland and Belgium involved in these activities, does it have links to Mexican cartels?
Yes, yes. In Belgium and Holland corruption exists. But corruption does not reach the same levels as in other countries where, for example, we have seen cases such as the Minister of National Defense who was found to be involved in drug trafficking, this does not happen in the Netherlands.
It is perhaps a micro corruption that mainly affects key figures to bring in the cocaine, such as Customs officials, Police, but there have been no cases of high officials such as police chiefs, ministers, secretaries, who are involved in corruption cases, but obviously drug trafficking cannot function in Belgium and Holland without the collaboration of certain key elements, especially in the drug import infrastructure, i.e. the ports. There have been cases of policemen and investigators filtering information to drug traffickers, but there is not the same level of generalized corruption and corrupt judges. Fortunately, the rule of law continues to function.

The case of the journalist Peter R. Di Vries, murdered in the Netherlands on 6 July 2021, how do we place it in this context of Dutch narcos, why was he killed?
Peter R. Di Vries had a specific role, he was not just a journalist. He was the trusted person of a key witness in a case against a major drug trafficker, Ridouan Tagui, who had had links to Italy. So Petes R. Di Bris was a journalist, but he was also a person involved in the trial of a drug trafficker.
He was not a witness, but a trusted person, it is a legal form in Holland similar to a lawyer, he is an councilor, he was the councilor of a key witness against a violent drug trafficker who had previously murdered a lawyer. Even well-informed journalists in the Netherlands say that Peter R. Di Bris was not murdered for his role as a journalist, but because he was a consultant. The case had a lot of repercussions. In the Netherlands, many important politicians are coming to the conclusion that drug trafficking violence is increasing more and more and seems to have no solution. The conclusion they reach is that prohibitionism doesn't work, because large shipments of cocaine are intercepted and this only causes conflicts between criminals, they kill each other.
The conclusion is perhaps correct, they spend thousands and millions of euros annually in the fight against drug trafficking, and the traffic has not decreased even by a kilo, the system continues to work. Maybe something isn't working. But I think that perhaps the solution is the wrong one, because furthermore, cocaine is not produced in Holland, it is produced in South American countries that continue to have the same problems and they are the ones who pay.

So how do we address this problem in the world?
I believe there is something important. Sometimes journalism tends to focus on the leaders, on El Chapo in Mexico, Marset in Uruguay. He focuses on those figures, because he obviously believes that he is more interesting or flashier, and that he will generate more clicks, an anti-hero.
We focus on the pawns, which as such are replaceable. I believe that in any place, if there is drug trafficking, it is because there are key figures in the public sphere, in power, in politics, who allow it and who even exploit drug trafficking. So I believe it is very important to understand this, to focus more on corruption, the involvement of the state. You could even look at it another way. Sometimes in Belgium it is always said that it is the narco who infiltrates, corrupts the state, the narco is seen as the active actor. I would say that you can see it the other way around, that they are generals, ministers, presidents who take advantage of the narco, who see it as loot, it is the narco who works for the State, for Power and not the other way around, they are partners. I believe that journalism often falls short of this vision, and that journalism should shed more light on state involvement."

https://www.antimafiaduemila.com/ho...di-metanfetamine-in-belgio-e-olanda.html