European law enforcement's recent infiltration of encrypted communications networks used by criminals revealed the extent of drug trafficking in Belgium. New statistics from the nation's financial intelligence unit, CTIF, suggest that illicit finance has metastasized as well. CTIF logged a record 46,000 suspicious transaction reports in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 50 percent that the agency attributed in part to the "vigilance of the financial sector," a government-requested "lookback" on payments linked to a regularly occurring tax amnesty, and the post-Brexit relocation of dozens of U.K. payment services providers to the nation. But Belgium faces a much greater challenge than...
Budget shortages and a lack of personnel have forced law enforcement agencies in Belgium to hit stop on dozens of cases against suspected money launderers, art smugglers and other profit-motivated criminals over the past six months.
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