Shipping company Maersk is facing infiltrations from criminal groups. New research now uncovers links with Danish Hells Angels operating in Aarhus, Denmark’s largest commercial port.
Port operator APM Terminals, owned by Maersk, confirmed Finans’ information, and CEO Keith Svendsen said the company is trying to remove the criminals. This follows incidents in 2023 in which the terminal found that workers were threatened to pay overtime to a special workers’ club at the port. There was violence and scuffles during a party, and theft of blood samples taken in connection with drug and alcohol tests of port workers.
“It has been known for some time that workers at Aarhus port have relationships with gang environments. I don’t have a specific figure how many, clearly we strongly distance ourselves from workers who have links to criminal organisations,” Svendsen says. He believes that the security level at the port should be tightened and that employees should undergo security screening, like at airports.
Netherlands and Belgium
Maersk has been involved in several cocaine seizures, most recently in July when Dutch authorities found eight tonnes of cocaine in the port of Rotterdam. The head of the Rotterdam port police told Finans that Maersk had been “infiltrated” by drug traffickers. According to Costa Rica’s prosecutor, the same applies to Maersk’s main Caribbean port.
Here, a group of employees has been accused of smuggling cocaine to Europe. “We are seeing an increase in drug smuggling, causing major problems in Belgian and Dutch ports, among others. In Denmark, we have an opportunity to learn from these experiences and take action,” Svendsen said.
Action required
Trade association of Danish industry DI writes that stricter security measures are needed at the ports of Aarhus and Esbjerg. In a letter, DI points to the special position of these NATO ports. “Although there have been no terrorist attacks, there have unfortunately been examples of smuggling, drugs and other organised criminal activities,” the letter says.
“Unfortunately, the companies cannot solve the problems around increased security needs alone, and need an even closer dialogue, especially at the organisational level with the authorities, not least the Police.”
“That Hells Angels are active in the port of Aarhus is new,” Yarin Eski, criminologist specialising in drug smuggling at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, told Finans. “Denmark, a country with one of the largest shipping fleets in the world, should use the intelligence service to conduct background checks on everyone in the ports, from CEO to dock workers.”
