Head of customs banned from entering Brussels Airport

The head of the customs services at Brussels Airport has been transferred to another job and refused entry to the airport after several days of allegations and controversy. Customs officers have been ordered to hand over their service weapons after a quarrel, and it emerged that the husband of the head of the service is a convicted drugs smuggler.

Last week, some 30 customs officers were told to hand over their weapons after one officer was accused of threatening another at gunpoint. According to one source within the service, who spoke to De Standaard, the problem was with a group of recent recruits who were harassing other members of the service.

According to the source, the head of the service, Annick VC, was protecting the officers involved. She was called into the office of the director-general of the service in Brussels last week, and the decision to withdraw the weapons was taken “to prevent a quarrel from escalating and an accident happening,” the service said.

Later it emerged that Annick VC is married to a convicted drugs dealer. The man was sentenced to five years in prison by a court in Antwerp in 2006 for his part in smuggling 2.8 kilograms of cocaine through the harbour.

Annick VC was not involved in any illegal activity, though the trial suggested she had suspicions she did not act upon. Her husband’s history was not considered to be a reason to prevent her later appointment by the finance ministry as head of the airport’s customs service.

Photo: Virginie Lefour/BELGA