24,000 euro has disappeared from a safe at a Maritime Police station at the West Flemish port of Zeebrugge. The news of the disappearance of the cash appears in an article in Friday’s addition of the daily ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’.
24,000 euro stolen from Maritime Police safe in Zeebrugge: “It could be one of our own officers”
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The discovery was made when someone that works at the police station returned from sick leave. The police believe that the money has been stolen by one of their own officers.
When a member of staff, who is responsible for the safe at the Maritime Police station in Zeebrugge, returned from several months’ sick leave they discovered that 24,000 euro was missing from the safe.
The money in the safe came from seafarers that dock vessels at the port of Zeebrugge and have to buy what in effect is a kind of visa in order to pass through Belgium with their ships. The document costs between 25 and 100 euro depending on the vessel.
The Federal Police (The Maritime Police is part of the Federal Police) spokeswoman An Berger told journalists "The money is kept in a safe and every so often is taken to the bank. We have long been pressing for this to be done electronically and no longer with cash so that we no longer need to go to the bank and wouldn’t need a safe anymore”.
An inside job
The Federal Police believes that the theft was carried out by an officer or officers of the Maritime Police Service “The safe is in a restricted area, you can't just go in there. A code and an access badge are required. This mean that it certainly could be the case that one of our own staff is also involved. This would of course be absolutely shameful. And would reflect badly on their colleagues too. Some 130 people work at the Maritime Police”, An Berger said.
The investigation into the theft is being carried out by West Flanders public prosecutor's office and the General Inspectorate of Police.