One of Europe's largest cargo airport grapples with rising customs fraud

Record ID: 2361197

  • Title: One of Europe's largest cargo airport grapples with rising customs fraud
  • Date: 4th March 2026
  • Summary: GRACE-HOLLOGNE, BELGIUM (MARCH 3, 2026)(REUTERS) CUSTOMS OFFICER OPENING PACKAGE CUSTOMS OFFICER INSPECTING SHOE CUSTOMS OFFICER INSPECTING COUNTERFEIT CANADA GOOSE JACKET BAGS OF MARIJUANA ON TABLE NEXT TO OTHER SEIZED DRUGS COCAINE SEEN INSIDE CUT-OPEN TUBE CUSTOMS OFFICER OPENING MOUTH OF TAXIDERMIED ALLIGATOR HEAD  HEAD OF BELGIAN CUSTOMS AGENCY, KRISTIAN VANDERWAEREN,
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  • Location: GRACE-HOLLOGNE, BELGIUM
  • City: GRACE-HOLLOGNE, BELGIUM
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Crime,Europe
  • Reuters ID: LVA001051003032026RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Officials at Liege Airport, Europe's fifth-largest cargo airport and one of the primary gateways to Europe from retailers outside the bloc, are warning that customs fraud has surged in the past year, as packages from Chinese retailers such as Shein and Temu flood the airport.
    Customs fraud costs Europe more than 40 billion euros ($46.4 million) a year, according to Kristian Vanderwaeren, the general director at the Belgian customs agency during a behind-the-scenes press visit on Tuesday (March 3).
    The European Union is pushing customs officials to inspect more packages and the Belgian government has awarded money for better information-technology systems, but Vanderwaeren said he has had limited success in recruiting more customs officers to do the work.
    Declarations at the airport for small packages have surged from 3.5 million per day in 2025 to 4.7 million in January 2026. 
    "Approximately 20% of all e-commerce coming from outside the European Union and imported into the European Union goes through Liege," he told Reuters.
    While officials say it is difficult to place a number on how many packages are counterfeit or infringe on customs duties, Vanderwaeren said that 30% of inspections turn up infringements and officials have seen an immense spike in counterfeit items since last year - with offending packages including everything from marijuana, to Viagra pills, to counterfeit iPhones.
    But Vanderwaeren said the amount of infringements is undoubtedly much higher, with customs officials only able to check 0.006% of the packages coming through the airport.
    (Production: Bart Biesemans, A. Lennon, Makini Brice)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2026. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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