Gangs Use Airbnb as Drug Warehouses
Belgium's drug commissioner warns of a new trend in organized crime exploiting the flexibility of short-term rental platforms. A recent seizure in a Brussels apartment netted 3.3 kg of cocaine.
Belgium's drug commissioner warns of a new trend in organized crime exploiting the flexibility of short-term rental platforms. A recent seizure in a Brussels apartment netted 3.3 kg of cocaine.
Organized crime groups have found a new way to stash drugs, cash, and weapons: short-term apartment rentals through platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com. The flexibility these services offer allows gangs to quickly and anonymously secure temporary locations for their operations, warned Belgium's national drug commissioner, Ine Van Wymersch.
While authorities lack precise data on the scale of the problem, uncovered cases shed new light on sophisticated smuggling methods. "You need someone to pick up a shipment from the port. You don't know exactly when the ship will arrive. So you can rent an apartment or studio via Airbnb for three days. It's very flexible. If the ship doesn't come to Antwerp but goes to Marseille instead, you can cancel the reservation for free," Van Wymersch explained to The Guardian.
In early August, police seized 3.3 kilograms of cocaine and €4,845 in cash from an apartment in central Brussels rented via Airbnb. The space is believed to have been used for drug storage and packaging, according to the Belga news agency.
An even larger case emerged in 2024, when a group of 11 people was convicted for drug smuggling between Belgium and the United Kingdom. At that time, drugs worth €21 million were found in an apartment rented through the same platform in Staden, West Flanders.
Airbnb's manager for France and the Benelux, Clément Eulry, told De Standaard that such criminal bookings represent only an extreme minority among the millions the company processes annually. He emphasized that the company uses artificial intelligence to flag suspicious reservations and always notifies police and local authorities about problematic users.
Van Wymersch, however, warns that short-term rentals are not the only weak point. The e-commerce boom, anonymous email accounts, encrypted communication, and cryptocurrencies further facilitate criminal operations. "The fact that e-commerce is booming in business enormously facilitates organized crime," she said. Delivery companies are particularly vulnerable, she added: "It's no longer suspicious when you see a white van stop in front of your neighbor's house and a small box is handed over."
Van Wymersch was appointed in 2023 as Belgium's first national drug commissioner, following a wave of drug-related violence. Antwerp has firmly established itself as one of Europe's main entry points for cocaine. The situation escalated in 2022 when the then Belgian justice minister had to live under police protection after an alleged kidnapping plot was uncovered, and an 11-year-old girl was killed in gang clashes.
Van Wymersch herself reiterated the warning that Belgium risks becoming a narco-state: "If we don't do anything, we risk becoming a narco-state... where you no longer know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are."
The commissioner advocates for a strategy she calls the "iceberg." Shootings and explosions, like the record 101 shootings recorded in Brussels in 2025, are just the visible tip. Beneath the surface lie harms not always linked to organized crime, from victims of drug-impaired drivers to domestic violence.
Her priority is to hit the money earned through crime. "This multi-headed monster has only one heart, and that is money," she stated. The strategy includes targeting small businesses used for money laundering, such as hair salons, nail salons, or night shops. "It's important because all those small businesses are one big network," she stressed.
Criminal gangs, she explains, have changed their modus operandi. Instead of pyramidal hierarchies, they now operate as loose, anonymous networks where illegal activities are outsourced to various specialized groups. "It's truly crime as a service, and it's very opportunistic," Van Wymersch concluded.
Nevertheless, she emphasizes that a purely repressive approach won't reduce the number of shootings. She points to the social roots of the problem, noting that in Brussels, 12.8% of people aged 15 to 29 are not in education, employment, or training. "We will see fewer shootings only when there are fewer vulnerable people. In fact, we must strengthen the resilience of society as a whole," she said.
