Belgium fights offshore terror threat

Belgium is working to fight potential terrorism in the North Sea with a new service that checks whether there are radicalised crew members on board Belgian ships and protects the ships from terror attacks, write various Belgian media.

"Ships are an ideal means for terrorist and other criminal organisations to smuggle large amounts of weapons, or to be used as terrorist weapons themselves," said Philippe de Backer, secretary of state responsible for the North Sea, in De Tijd. To implement the new service, the Federal Organization for Maritime Security, is working with the customs, military and shipping police.

The possibility of an offshore terror attack is growing, according to maritime data and analytics company Windward. The company speaks of hundreds of 'ghost ships', or ships that purposely turn off their tracking systems and disappear from the radar in European waters.