A special section of the Antwerp municipal police was created in 1937. It was appropriately called ‘Bijzondere Opdrachten’, B.O. (Special Missions). The section specialized in gathering information on left and right wing extremism, political immigrants and above all on German agents who were active in Antwerp. Camille Huysmans, the Antwerp socialist mayor, was the privileged receiver of this information. He actively supported the B.O. so much so that the B.O. were sometimes called ‘the political police of Camille Huysmans’. But the chief of the B.O. also exchanged information with representatives of British MI6 and with French intelligence agents in Antwerp, to the extent that the B.O.-chief could be considered a regular agent of French counter espionage. The privileges of the B.O.-agents and the fact that they were investigating in the same field as other police departments (Judicial police for example), did cause friction, rivalry and bitter feuds. This is one of the reasons why the section was abrogated in the 1950s.