The west African sub region has gained some notoriety with the continuous expansion and illicit activities of organized criminals who are engaged in various deadly activities like the drug trade, human trafficking, trafficking of human body parts among others
Colonel Amadou Tidiane Cissé, Senior Customs Inspector with the Customs Investigations Department of the Senegalese Customs Service, plunges readers into the world of illicit trafficking in his new book entitled “West Africa, New Eldorado of Organized Crime”, published in December 2023.
In his book, Colonel Cissé sheds light on the modus operandi of organized crime networks and their ramifications. The book is prefaced by General Mamadou Mansour Seck, former Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff and former Senegalese Ambassador to the United States.
The customs colonel plunges readers into the depths of the business of drugs, falsified medicines, protected wildlife species, rare and precious wood resources, cultural goods, human beings and migrants, among others. The modus operandi of organized crime networks, the ports of choice of traffickers, and the strategies used to move goods are all highlighted in this 235-page book.
The criminological culture, as well as the mastery of space inherent in his profession” as a customs officer, have “enabled him … to draw attention to the need for regional and international cooperation against transnational organized crime and asymmetric threats”, stresses the former Chief of the General Staff of the Senegalese Armed Forces.
In his new book, Colonel Amadou Tidiane Cissé also talks about the new routes taken by young African would-be illegal immigrants, who are landing in large numbers in Nicaragua and San Salvador, in an attempt to reach the United States of America via Guatemala and Mexico.
“I remain convinced that the information and analyses provided throughout (the book), which was a pleasant moment of instruction and questioning, will raise collective awareness of the scale of illegal trafficking, its impact on national security and the economy, and its ravages on society”, maintains General Mamadou Mansour Seck.
Article 3 of the Senegalese law on the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing indicates that assets are illegal if they originate from the commission of one of the following crimes or offences: participation in an organised criminal group, trafficking in human beings or smuggling of migrants, organ trafficking, sexual exploitation, illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances, illicit arms trafficking, counterfeiting of money or goods, environmental offences, etc.
Interestingly, even In sub-Saharan Africa, even donkeys have not escaped the greed of criminal networks, which have exterminated tens of thousands of the equines to satisfy Asia’s ever-growing demand for gelatine, a key product in traditional Chinese medicine.
The graph below provides an estimate of the revenue generated by various types of illicit trade around the world. It provides an idea, not only of the astronomical amounts generated by these illegal activities around the world, but also of the scope of illicit trafficking, from which no sector is spared.
It should be noted that the upsurge in illicit trafficking has come at a time when the IMF has announced that sub-Saharan Africa is facing a major shortage of financing due to skyrocketing interest rates, a drop in concessional loans, dwindling donor contributions and the after-effects of recent crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and conflicts, including most recently the Russian-Ukrainian war.
This situation risks plunging large sections of the global population, particularly those living in sub-Saharan Africa, into a situation of extreme vulnerability. Indeed, global inflation and the tightening of monetary policies have resulted in higher borrowing costs for countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
According to the IMF, ‘(…) this shortage of funding may force countries to reduce fiscal resources for critical development like health, education, and infrastructure, holding the region back from developing its true potential.’
As a result of this shortage, governments have less money and are finding it difficult to ‘respond to the cost-of-living crisis we are seeing today, with a spiralling inflation and hence food prices. They find it extremely difficult to provide all the support people need in these times of rising prices, due to their limited budgetary leeway’.
Today, there are fears that the illicit activities of transnational criminal organisations developing in West Africa – a region whose countries are already facing scarce financial resources, political instability, a security crisis, underemployment, and precariousness – are taking on even more frightening proportions, given the recurring seizures of large quantities of illicit goods and the almost daily dismantling of organised crime rings by law enforcement officers. In any case, thanks to the revenues generated by their activities, these transnational criminal organisations have an impressive ability to adapt and regenerate.
The market value of the 57 tonnes of cocaine seized in West Africa over 2019-2022 exceeds 7 billion dollars. According to an estimate by the Global Financial Integrity think tank, the global illicit drugs trade generates between $426 billion and $652 billion each year. According to the United Nations, human trafficking, which is also a form of international organised crime, generates $32 billion a year.
According to Colonel Amadou Tidiane Cissé, the Illicit trafficking could deal a fatal blow to the economies of West African countries, which already face numerous difficulties, including exogenous shocks that undermine growth and limit foreign direct investment, as indicated by several official sources.
He notes in his book that The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates between 2 and 5% of the world’s GDP is laundered each year, an amount ranging between 800 and 2,000 billion dollars. The negative impact of laundering the proceeds of illicit activities can be gauged by the lack credible statistical data. In countries where illegal trafficking flourishes, economic policy is based on data that is often erroneous and does not reflect the reality it is supposed to describe. In addition, fluctuations in movements of money and capital deposits have a serious impact on the money and foreign exchange markets.
Several years ago, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) analysed the impact of the illicit drug industry on the US economy and found that the economic destabilisation that follows the entrenchment of illicit trafficking in a country takes the following forms: (a) it undermines macroeconomic decisions to counter the flow of illicit profits, thus creating high interest rates and crowding out legitimate investment; (b) it brings about an overvalued exchange rate as a result of the inflow of illicit profits, diminishing legitimate exports; (c) it promotes illegal business and unfair competition, including obstacles put on legitimate business; (d) it encourages conspicuous consumption at the expense of long-term investment; (e) it encourages investment in non-productive sectors; and (f) it exacerbates unequal income distribution.
This study and its conclusions on the negative effects of illicit trafficking on the US economy are cause for alarm about the situation in sub-Saharan Africa, where organised crime networks are spreading rapidly.
African states have neither legislative systems comparable to those of the United States, the world’s largest democracy, nor the institutions, let alone the resources or control mechanisms required to deal with the development of an underground economy fuelled by illegal activities.
This essay gives us an opportunity to analyse the various forms of illicit trafficking that have taken hold in West African countries in recent years, involving natural or synthetic drugs, people, wildlife or plant species, medicines, cultural goods, cigarettes, fuel, and more.
It focuses on illegal drug trafficking, particularly in synthetic drugs, which are all the rage in major West African as well as in conflict zones, where young combatants use them to maintain their stamina in theatres of operation. This analysis specifically examines the routes taken and the methods used by traffickers to escape the surveillance and control of the defence and security forces.
It also investigates at length the smuggling of migrants and trafficking of human beings. Dozens of sub-Saharan migrants die every day while attempting to immigrate illegally, amid widespread indifference.
He said although the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organised Crime and the protocols thereto state that smuggling of migrants and trafficking in human beings are distinct crimes from a legal standpoint, it is difficult to deny that these activities pertain to quite similar realities to the extent that they involve human beings and are extremely lucrative.
Migrants we have met recount the routes they follow and describe the stages of their long trek to the European Eldorado, a journey fraught with hardship, humiliation, and tragedy, whether they followed the land or sea route to their dream destination.
Finally, the impact of illicit trafficking on economic development is examined. The example of Madagascar, where illicit trafficking in rosewood and money laundering by organised criminals in the green vanilla export sector have brought this export-revenue-generating sector to its knees, raises fears in West Africa of the collapse of cash crops such as groundnuts, cocoa, and cotton.
Illicit trafficking poses major risks to the development of West African countries, as the injection of capital from illegal activities into sectors known for money laundering threatens their economies.
According to Colonel Amadou Tidiane Cissé, If major efforts are not made by individual states and regional integration bodies to stop organised criminals from carrying on these illicit activities in ECOWAS countries, it is a safe bet that the criminal element will take the West African region hostage, as their business there is expanding at a dizzying pace.
Chapter one of his book deliberates on the West African Cocaine Problem
It notes that “In a press release issued by its Bureau des Relations Publiques et de la Communication (Senegalese Customs Public Relations and Communications Office – BRPC) on 30 October 2022, Senegal’s Directorate General of Customs reported the seizure of 300 kilograms of cocaine, worth 37 million euros, by the Kidira customs office on Senegal’s south-eastern border with Mali. The seizure, made on board a refrigerated lorry, was the largest ever made on land by a Senegalese Customs operational unit.
In the months that followed, customs officers from the Serigne Bassirou Mbacké Bridge Brigade stopped a Toyota Land Cruiser carrying 25 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a secret compartment by the drivers and their accomplices. The drugs also came from neighbouring Mali.
Having no access to the ocean, Mali ships a sizeable share of its export goods through the port of Dakar. A substantial flow of goods imported by Mali also transits through the Senegalese capital before being shipped overland to Mali.
Should these recent cocaine seizures on land routes be seen as a sign of an operational repositioning by cocaine traffickers, who are known to transport virtually all their cargo by sea?
These seizures come in addition to the many already made by the Senegalese customs department in recent years. Indeed, the past few years have been particularly successful for Senegalese Customs, which have made record cocaine seizures.
In June 2019, Senegalese customs officers seized 1,036 kg of cocaine in the port of Dakar. The drugs, packaged in one-kilogram bundles, had been carefully concealed in fifteen new Renault Kwid vehicles on board the Grimaldi ship Grande Africa, which had sailed out of the port of Paranaguá in southern Brazil. The ship was on its way to the port of Luanda in Angola. Inside each vehicle was a bag containing 50 kilograms of cocaine.
A second discovery was made later, on board the same vessel, following further searches. The crew of four, including two Italians and a German couple, were charged by the Dakar public prosecutor with criminal conspiracy and international drug trafficking.
An examination of the manifests set customs officers on the trail of another ship, the Grande Nigeria, sailing from the same Brazilian port of Paranaguá whence the Italian shipowner’s first vessel had departed.
A few weeks later, the French Navy’s Special Forces seized more than a tonne of cocaine 120 km off the coast of Senegal, in coordination with the Spanish Guardia Civil, which patrols the country’s maritime borders. The goods, which were shipped out of South America, were passing through Dakar on their way to Spain.
After three years on remand, the defendants were brought before the criminal court in Dakar, on charges of international drug trafficking, money laundering, criminal conspiracy, organised smuggling, piracy, unauthorised navigation, and forgery and fraud in private documents. They face 10 years’ imprisonment.
According to information published in the newspaper L’Observateur the ship’s captain stated that the drugs were destined for Spain. Following a breakdown on the high seas, he had contacted the owner of the goods, who promised to send another vessel to rescue him and recover the drugs. Incidents like this are the worst thing that can happen to operators involved in organised crime, because they work in an environment where everything is planned meticulously and with great precision, owing to the huge sums of money involved.
According to the international experts who investigated the case, the drugs seized in Dakar were of Bolivian origin. The illicit merchandise had transited through Paraguay before being loaded at the Brazilian port whence it was to travel to the African coast before reaching its final destination.
In 2021, the Senegalese National Navy seized 2,026 kilograms of cocaine on board the vessel La Rosa, 360 km off the coast of Dakar. In January 2023, a Senegalese Navy patrol boat also seized a cargo of 805 kilograms of cocaine 300 kilometres off the coast of Dakar.
These seizures by the Senegalese Customs and Navy were made on board vessels shipping goods from South America. It should be noted that many imported products come to us from Latin America, the most prominent being white granulated sugar, which is used as an input in local industries or as an everyday consumer product for households, packaged in 50-kilogram bags.
Over the same period, several other cocaine seizures were made by control units based at maritime borders throughout West Africa.
UNODC estimates that: ‘between 2019 and 2022, at least 57 tonnes of cocaine were seized in West Africa or en route to this region, mainly in Cape Verde (16.6 tonnes), Senegal (4.7 tonnes), Benin (3.9 tonnes), Côte d’Ivoire (3.5 tonnes), Gambia (3 tonnes) and Guinea-Bissau (2.7 tonnes)’. The market value of these illicit products is 7 billion dollars.
Côte d’Ivoire also stood out for the scale of its drug seizures, which were conducted in much the same way as in Senegal. In February 2021, the Ivorian Gendarmerie Nationale seized 1,560 kilograms of cocaine in the Cocody-Angré district. This operation by the Ivorian security forces followed the interception in 2020 of a merchant vessel from South America carrying 450 kilograms of cocaine.
The ensuing investigation led to the arrest of several people, including businesspeople operating in the transport, petroleum products, hotel, and bakery sectors. An investigation conducted two months later by the Drugs and Narcotics Police Department (DPSD) led to the discovery of 2,057 kilograms of cocaine in the home of a Spanish national living in San Pedro.
Nigeria’s largest drug seizure took place in September 2022. It involved 1.8 tonnes of cocaine, worth an estimated $278 million, according to the Nigerian anti-narcotics agency. The drugs were hidden in a warehouse in a residential area of the Lagos megalopolis. The Nigerian authorities worked closely with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to pull off this huge cocaine seizure.
Of all the seizures made in the region, the one made in the port of Praia in 2019, involving 9.5 tonnes of cocaine, was the largest. The shipments also originated in South America and were loaded onto the vessel ESER. All eleven crew members, who were of Russian nationality, were arrested by Cabo Verde police. The ship was bound for the port of Tangiers, in Morocco, and had made an unscheduled stopover following the death of one of the crew members.
Cabo Verde is a country made up of a group of islands that are difficult to access. This, combined with its strategic geographical position between South America, the ports of the Gulf of Guinea, and Europe, makes it a particularly popular transit area for international drug traffickers.
Indeed, this is why the United States drug enforcement agency has set up on the island of Santiago, as part of its efforts to secure the highly sensitive maritime route in terms of illicit drug trafficking. Santiago is also where 8 tonnes of cocaine were seized prior to the record seizure in the port of Praia.
The history of the US drug enforcement agency and the changes it has undergone warrant a closer look to understand the source of its effectiveness and, above all, the extent to which the integration of the various US departments involved in the fight against drug trafficking could serve as an inspiration to West African countries, which are faced with unprecedented levels of illicit drug trafficking and are currently struggling to build an effective strategy to counter the scourge of international trafficking in narcotics and psychotropic substances.
The DEA is the agency responsible for enforcing federal laws on drug use. This year it celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. Concerned about the growing threat posed by the importation and use of drugs and the multiple departments involved in combatting them – the BNDD, ODALE, and the presence within US Customs of more than 600 officials specially trained to combat drug trafficking – the US federal government put in place a plan to reorganise its drug enforcement services, leading to the creation in 1973 of the DEA, which is attached to the Department of Justice.
The American agency has opened 93 investigation offices in the 69 countries where it is represented, particularly in those reputed to be departure countries for drug shipments. With a budget estimated at 2,563.1 million dollars in 2023, the DEA employs nearly 9,000 officials worldwide.
Since 2021, the DEA has been headed by Anne Milgram, a lawyer appointed by President Biden. During her mandate, she has focussed on the fight against opioids, in particular the trafficking and use of fentanyl, an analgesic that is fifty times more potent than heroin.
The DEA has achieved extremely noteworthy results in the fight against the illicit trafficking of narcotics and psychotropic substances of all kinds, not only in the United States but also throughout the world, where it collaborates with many local government agencies.
In Africa, the DEA has nine regional offices. Collaboration between the American drug enforcement agency and local defence and security forces has made a major contribution to the results achieved by the operational units involved in the fight against illegal drug trafficking.
In many West African countries, there are several police, gendarmerie and customs departments involved in the fight against illicit drug trafficking, as in the United States fifty years ago. Corporatism, competition and even ‘departmental wars’ between government agencies specialising in drug control detract from their effectiveness in combating illicit trafficking.
The DEA’s bold transformation, and the challenges facing West African countries in the fight against illicit trafficking, should encourage governments to reform the institutional framework of their anti-drug agencies, which should also be united to increase their efficiency, like the DEA, with its brilliant success in building its reputation and achieving international prestige.
Today, the fight against international drug trafficking is inextricably linked to the DEA’s role in supporting the operational units with which it cooperates, particularly in terms of capacity building and intelligence.
African countries are capable of these bold reforms, and some have already succeeded in setting up a centralised entity to bring together the bodies involved in the fight against drugs, when their fragmentation undermined their operational effectiveness.
The major reform of the intelligence sector that took place in Senegal in 2014, which resolved the issue of fragmented intelligence departments in sovereign ministries and in the presidential Cabinet, has gone a long way to streamlining their operations. It should serve as an inspiration to the departments involved in the fight against illicit drug trafficking.
Clearly, the seizures we mentioned in West Africa are far from commensurate with the 110 tonnes of cocaine intercepted at the Belgian port of Antwerp in 2022 (vs 89.5 tonnes in 2021), worth 55 billion euros. A total of 160 tonnes of cocaine were seized by Belgian Customs in the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam that same year. Indeed, the seizures in the European ports of Antwerp, Rotterdam and even Le Havre undermine the argument that the cartels have deserted them in favour of more permeable West African ports.
Despite their efforts to modernise, European ports continue to be a preferred point of entry for drugs and illegal goods from South America. There are even allegations of collusion between organised criminals and trusted infiltrators who serve their interests in the handling sector or in border control units.
In addition to efforts to renovate port and airport facilities and to strengthen the operational skills of enforcement officers, other actions should also be taken, particularly in the area of ethics, to enhance the effectiveness of the fight against illegal trafficking.
The UNODC Drug Report 2022, which provides an overview of the global supply and demand for drugs such as cocaine and cannabis, amphetamine-type drugs, and new psychoactive substances, mentions particularly significant levels of increase in cocaine manufacture over the course of the year.
The report also shows that coca bush was grown on 234,200 ha in 2022. Compared with 2018, experts note a 5% drop in the area under cultivation. However, this drop has not led to a decline in cocaine production. On the contrary, it increased by 11%.
Colombia remains the region of the world with the largest area devoted to coca leaf cultivation, accounting for 61% of the area set aside for the crop worldwide. A recent study reveals that Colombia is the world’s leading producer of cocaine, accounting for 70% of quantities produced and a potential 1,228 tonnes. Coca leaves are planted mainly in parks and reserves in the north and south-east of the country.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which held a global monopoly on cocaine trafficking until it was disbanded in 2016, has given way to new criminal organisations. The Mexican cartels have joined forces with the myriad of criminal groups that have emerged from the FARC.
In Europe, according to the same study, Colombian traffickers and criminal groups from the Balkans have joined forces in the international cocaine trafficking business, to the detriment of the ‘Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia, a major player in drug trafficking in Europe.
The UNODC report also confirms the record seizures mentioned above:
Trafficking in cocaine continued to increase (…) despite the COVID-19 pandemic, and global quantities of cocaine seized (not adjusted for purity) increased by 4.5 per cent, to a new record high of 1,424 tons, with quantities of cocaine paste and cocaine base seized rising by 16 per cent, to 108 tons, and quantities of cocaine hydrochloride seized rising by 4 per cent, to 1.105 tons (and only seizures of “crack” cocaine and non-specified types of cocaine showing smaller growth rates).
A comparison of data on the increases in the quantities manufactured and seized naturally reveals that the latter clearly exceed the former. However, as the report states, ‘the comparability of the two data sets is limited by the potentially varying levels of purity of seized quantities over time.’
Looking at the quantities of cocaine seized by region, the report reveals that, of all the quantities of cocaine seized between 2015 and 2020, the total quantity seized in South America was five times as high as in North America.
The 2022 report also points out that North America remains the leading market for this drug, followed by Europe.
An equally important aspect of the report concerns the way cocaine is transported to consumer markets. It reveals that 90% of global cocaine trafficking takes place by sea. The ports of Buenaventura and Cartagena, in Colombia, Guayaquil, Ecuador, and Santos, Brazil, are the main departure points for cocaine shipments around the world.
It should be noted that cocaine concealment techniques are becoming increasingly sophisticated, as evidenced by the seizures made. In the international maritime transport of cocaine, a ‘mother ship’ technique is used, whereby a large vessel carrying the drug is relieved of its cargo by small boats that take turns recovering the merchandise little by little.
During a recent seizure of 1.5 tonnes of cocaine by the Guinean Navy, investigations revealed that the drug was unloaded from cargo ships before they reached the port of Conakry, and loaded onto fishing boats which then transported them to warehouses in the capital, in return for cash payments to the fishermen who transported the drugs.
Another well-known technique, known as the ‘rip-off’ method, involves loading the drugs into a shipment of goods destined for export, without the knowledge of the shipper or the actual owner. Once the drugs have arrived at their port of destination, an accomplice with access to the container breaks the container seal and recovers the illegal goods, before replacing it with a seal bearing the same number.
This technique requires not only the availability of the appropriate logistical resources to change the seals used by the private shipping companies, but also effective infiltration of the port’s handling personnel and the complicity of the control officers deployed at port level.
Drug traffickers have refined their techniques over the years. They now use underwater drones to transport the drugs without being bothered by the defence and security forces.
To take one example, in July 2022, the Spanish police seized submersible carriers that could be piloted remotely and could transport up to 200 kg of cocaine. The Spanish police operation also led to the seizure of aerial drones with a range of 30 km, which could easily travel from Morocco and to Spain by crossing the Strait of Gibraltar.
The interception by Spanish police of a bathyscaphe carrying 3 tonnes of cocaine in 2019 heralded a major innovation in international drug trafficking by sea. The investments involved can be covered by the revenue generated by the highly lucrative illegal cocaine trade. The Iberian authorities also seized three helicopters that had been used to transport drugs.
It is clear from the above that cocaine leaving Latin America, where it is produced, is shipped by sea to African and European ports, as demonstrated by the large seizures made in recent years.
Cargoes sent to Africa are then repackaged and sent to Europe, via Morocco, using submarine or aerial vectors, or concealed in goods lorries bound for Europe.
Another technique used by traffickers is to embed cocaine hydrochloride in beeswax, plastic, or clothing. The drug is processed in private laboratories as soon as it reaches its destination.
The boundless ingenuity shown by drug traffickers in transporting drugs is nothing new. Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, nicknamed ‘El Chapo’ due to his small stature (1m68), had tunnels dug between Mexico and the United States to transport drugs.
In 2020, US Homeland Security agents discovered a 1.3-km tunnel linking the Mexican city of Tijuana to San Diego in the United States. The tunnel, known as the ‘Baja Metro’, was equipped with rails used to transport drugs, with ventilation and drainage systems that made it possible to transport the huge quantities of goods involved in illegal trafficking without damage.
The US secret services have obtained the extradition of El Chapo’s architect, José Sánchez Villalobos, who specialised in the construction of tunnels between the two countries, which allowed both migrants and drugs to be smuggled. The US authorities estimate that 90 tunnels have been dug between Mexico and the United States over the past 30 years to transport migrants and illegal drugs.
Pleasure craft usually intended for nautical outings are also used to carry drugs, as shown by the October 2021 seizure by the Spanish police of 5.2 tonnes of cocaine off the coast of Portugal, on board a pleasure craft flying the Spanish flag.
Individual passengers have been known to conceal drugs in bras, toothpaste tubes or cocaine-filled peanuts.
Fake chocolate bunnies were seized in the cargo terminal of a European airport on the day before Easter by customs officers who used Raman spectroscopy to detect the drugs hidden inside.
However, the most common technique for transporting cocaine through airports is for couriers to ingest capsules or insert them into their bodies. Sometimes, traditional musical instruments such as the balafon or the tama, or even books, are used to evade the scrutiny of customs control officers and smuggle drugs into a country.
Although most of the world’s cocaine is trafficked by sea, seizures are nonetheless made on Sahelian routes, as the UNODC report indicates, with 214 kg in Niger, 115 kg in Burkina Faso and 33.9 kg in Mali since 2021.
The table also includes cocaine seizures made at the land border between Senegal and Mali, in the Kaolack region in central Senegal and at the border between Gambia and Senegal, as mentioned above.
The cocaine seizures recorded over the past three years in almost every country in West Africa are a cause for concern and raise questions about the cartels’ sudden interest in the African ports along the Atlantic seaboard.
We know that the region is more of a transit area than a major consumer market. When large quantities of cocaine leave South America, where it is grown and processed, and transported to West Africa, it is not because of the structure of the African market but because of its status as a gateway to Europe, which is its ultimate destination. Could the absence or laxity of controls at African ports also explain the upsurge in drug trafficking on the West Africa-Europe route?
Tigrane Yégavian’s analysis of the issue warrants our close attention:
the African continent offers Latin American drug traffickers a throughway transit highway with only limited controls. With its porous borders, its ideal location close to Europe and its fragile states rife with corruption, West Africa has become a major hub for illegal drug trafficking (…) In the past, South American drug traffickers traditionally took a route through the Caribbean and the Azores to transport their drugs to Europe. They now prefer West Africa, since the route offers organised crime syndicates the twofold advantage of avoiding controls by the American authorities off the Caribbean coast, while taking advantage of its political instability and weakened societies (…).
Referring to the drug traffickers’ routes, Yégavian adds that as soon as the illicit merchandise arrives off the coast of Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, or Cape Verde, the merchandise travels by both land and air to Mali, Burkina Faso, and Togo. Guinea-Bissau inherited the airstrips built on its many islands from its erstwhile Portuguese colonists, who used them to deploy their military throughout the country and fight the natives involved in the war for liberation.
Scant years after they were laid, the airstrips were rehabilitated by Colombian drug traffickers who control these remote areas, where their illicit trade flourishes. Nigeria controls the cocaine trafficking market in West Africa. Nigerian cartels are now forging alliances with Pakistanis and Afghans to position the region to supply Europe with heroin from the Asian market, which until now had been channelled through South Africa and Tanzania, says Yégavian.
Finally, according to the researcher, the Mexican cartels of Sinaloa, Los Zetas, Golfo, Juarez, Tijuana and Guadalajara are collaborating with African organised criminals to develop the illicit cocaine trafficking business in the region.
Another type of alliance worth mentioning is that forged between drug traffickers and jihadist groups operating in the Sahel, who control the routes to the Maghreb and Europe where cocaine is destined. Serigne Bamba Gaye provides a remarkable insight into the connections between jihadist groups and the networks involved in illegal trafficking of all kinds.
Chapter two of the book talks about Hashish Trafficking in the region, “In an interview with Radio France International (RFI), Amado Philip de Andrés, UNODC Regional Director for West and Central Africa, said that 57 tonnes of cannabis, worth €30 million, were seized in 2021 in West Africa. These figures reveal the scale of illicit cannabis trafficking in the region.
It notes that In the largest cannabis resin seizure ever made in West Africa, national police officers seized 17 tonnes of resin from a warehouse in Niamey, the capital of Niger. The merchandise originated in Lebanon and was unloaded at the port of Lomé. Thousands of packets of cannabis resin were then transported to Niger in a lorry, according to the Nigerien police, who investigated the case. The drugs were concealed in specially designed cavities inside a tanker, suggesting that the vehicle was carrying petroleum products.
The ingenuity of cannabis traffickers is demonstrated by the methods they use to conceal the resin. According to a press release from the Direction Générale de la Sûreté Nationale (DGSN), the 31 tonnes of cannabis resin seized in a warehouse in Tangiers, Morocco, to take one example, were ‘wrapped and stuffed in fruit and vegetable figurines, coloured and sized to facilitate their release as agricultural products for export’.
In other cases, cannabis resin was concealed under the rear floor of utility vans, accessible via a trap door with a hydraulic jack that was opened using an electromagnet.
In other seizures, packets of cannabis resin were hidden inside a pasteurisation unit hauled by a road tractor. There was nothing to suggest that kilograms of cannabis had been carefully stored inside the vat.
In April 2023, 5 tonnes of cannabis resin concealed in a refrigerated lorry carrying frozen goods were seized at the port of Tangiers. Using falsified export documents, the Moroccan driver was trying to reach neighbouring Spain. This international cannabis resin trafficking operation was foiled by the intervention of the DGSN’s canine squad.
During this joint police-customs operation, 60 kilograms of cocaine were also seized. They had been packed in the guts of tuna from Ecuador, travelling to Spain via Morocco.
As we saw above, traffickers transporting cocaine use sophisticated concealment techniques, which are even more difficult to detect.
Morocco, Afghanistan, and Lebanon are the main cannabis resin producing countries. Huge quantities of cannabis are also produced in West African countries, which offer ideal conditions for growing resin. In Nigeria, the cultivation of cannabis resin has even displaced food crops such as cassava and yams in the forests of Ekiti State in the south-west of the country.
Farmers have given up these crops and cocoa to grow cannabis, which is ten times more profitable than traditional crops. According to the author of the above-mentioned report, a kilogram of cannabis fetches 1,200 naira in the cultivation zones. The price can reach 7,000 naira per kilogram in larger cities like Kano and Lagos.
As with cocaine, regarding which Amado Philip de Andrés reports that profits increase by 1.7% for every 15 kilometres travelled, the price of a kilogram of cannabis skyrockets as soon as it leaves the regions where it is produced for distant consumption areas. Cannabis cultivation has taken hold in the state to the point where the governor is advocating its legalisation for medicinal use. However, the proposal has not won the support of the federal authorities.
In a study published in the newspaper Le Monde, Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy explains how cannabis resin is obtained three months after sowing the seeds:
The tops of the plants, where the flowers are located, are cut off and bundled to be dried in the sun for several days. Once the bundled are dried, the trichomes, which are glands found on the flowers of female plants, set aside. Cannabis resin is made from trichome powder. To obtain the powder, the traditional method – still used in Morocco – is threshing. The dried flowers are placed between two sheets of filter paper and beaten with a rod over a container. After being manually heated and compressed, the powder solidifies and becomes a bar of cannabis resin. It can be smoked immediately or stored for several months before being exported.
Methamphetamine: The extraordinary boom in synthetic drugs
The market for trafficking of psychoactive substances such as ephedrine, methamphetamine, benzodiazepine, speedball, and ketamine has experienced an extraordinary boom in West Africa in recent years. As an ECOWAS report reveals:
The non-medical use of pharmaceutical and other synthetic opioids in West Africa is of increasing concern. In the reporting period, a total of 129 tonnes of pharmaceutical opioids seized indicates potential increase in the non-medical use of pharmaceuticals and synthetic opioids as West Africa continues to be a hub for diversion of licit pharmaceuticals for illicit use.
In West Africa, Nigeria is considered the hub of trafficking in methamphetamine, a synthetic drug obtained from ephedrine. A medical dictionary describes ephedrine as:
A sympathomimetic amine acting directly on the alpha and beta receptors and indirectly by increasing the release of noradrenaline by the sympathetic nerve endings. As with any sympathomimetic agent, ephedrine stimulates the central nervous system, the cardiovascular system, the respiratory system, and the sphincters of the digestive and urinary systems.
As part of its work to control precursors used in the manufacture of synthetic drugs, the INCB assesses the annual national requirements for ephedrine and pharmaceutical preparations containing the substance in order to prevent its diversion for illicit purposes. According to foreign trade statistics for 23 countries provided by TrendEconomy, exports of ephedrine worldwide reached 5.66 million dollars in 2021.
India accounts for 49% of global ephedrine exports. After India, Germany (29%), the Czech Republic (6.58%), Singapore (4.25%) and the United States of America (2.13%) are the world’s leading exporters of this active substance. The United States imports 41% of global production. It is followed by Egypt (11%), Nigeria (8.66%), Indonesia (5.12%) and Romania (4.93%).
Nigeria is the leading African importer of ephedrine. Virtually all its imports come from India. These imports are valued at 639 million dollars, up 31% on 2020. India’s official annual requirements for this substance are estimated at 771 kilograms. However, the federal government imports more than 8 tonnes a year, according to an AFP source. This suggests that the bulk of ephedrine imports are diverted from their official use for other purposes.
Methamphetamine, in turn, is obtained by adding hydrogen iodide, sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), hydrogen chloride and red phosphorus to this precursor. It belongs to the phenylethylamine family, which includes a range of psychotropic substances that can be stimulants, entactogens (inducing a socialising effect and a desire for contact), anorectics (appetite suppressants) or hallucinogens. These products are sold over the counter in supermarkets and online. In recent years, the rapid development of e-commerce has made access to these products even easier.
Methamphetamine is not a new drug, having already been used during the Second World War by Japanese suicide bombers, who were given large doses during suicide operations against Western armed forces. American and British troops also used this psychotropic substance during the war. In 1971, methamphetamine was included on the list of psychotropic substances under international control.
More recently, when Major Harry Schmidt of the US Air Force mistakenly bombed positions occupied by Canadian soldiers stationed at Kandahar airport in Afghanistan, he invoked methamphetamine use as a justification for his error of judgement. The judge was clearly convinced by this argument and dismissed the case, even though the bombing resulted in the death of four Canadians. Major Schmidt got off lightly after being found guilty of dereliction of duty. He was fined $5,000. The US Army had admitted that low doses of the amphetamine Dexedrine were given to pilots to produce a mild stimulant effect.
According to Georges Berghezan, the first methamphetamine production initiative in West Africa dates back to 2010. The project was the work of drug trafficker Chigbo Peter Umeh, who was arrested in Liberia before being extradited to the United States. He told DEA investigators that another methamphetamine laboratory was also being built in Liberia.
The DEA has recently classified xylazine, which has been used for several decades in veterinary anaesthesiology, as the most serious emerging threat in terms of illicit trafficking in synthetic drugs.
The use of this drug, also known as ‘tranq dope’, is of concern to the American authorities, who estimate that its consumption has increased by 200%, causing devastation in the southern United States. It is an injectable drug that is also used as a cutting agent for other opioids and is particularly popular with young people as a recreational party drug. Its growing popularity is due to its low price and enormous addictive potential.
West African countries such as Guinea, Benin, and Côte d’Ivoire are also affected by trafficking in this synthetic drug.
A Beninese colleague with whom I spoke about the ravages of this drug on young people in Cotonou told me that the caretaker of his home in the Fidjrossè district had the unreasonable habit of watering his outdoor plants with tap water when it was raining heavily. It was only much later, as the number of strange things he did in the course of his work increased, that he realised that the security guard in the building where he lived was under the influence of methamphetamine.
Berghezan reports that, as part of the AIRCOP project to combat drug trafficking in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, huge quantities of methamphetamine have been seized, particularly at the airports of Lagos, Lomé, and Cotonou.
The first clandestine laboratory manufacturing this synthetic drug was destroyed in Nigeria in 2011. Another, with a production capacity of four tonnes a week, was also discovered in the town of Asaba.
In 2018, a further fourteen were dismantled by Nigerian security forces. National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) officer reported that when the first clandestine synthetic drug laboratories were dismantled, they had arrested Mexican and Colombian ‘experts’ operating there. Since then, the foreign ‘exports’ have transferred their knowledge and skills to Nigerians, who have assimilated the techniques and are now preparing methamphetamine in these illegally built private labs.
According to Jacques Deveaux, the Nigerian industry supplies not only South Africa, where a kilogram can be sold for €10,000, but also Japan, where the price per kilogram reaches €130,000.
According to Laurent Guillaume, effects of methamphetamine’s active ingredient on the consumer are three times as potent as the effects of cocaine, and last between 10 and 12 times as long. Methamphetamine use is exploding in Africa due to its ability to help users endure hunger and fatigue.
Chapter four of the book talks about captagon invasion in the local market after the Middle East invasion Captagon is a drug in the amphetamine family. Its use helps to stimulate brain activity. Users of the drug also experience greater stamina and self-confidence.
Captagon trafficking generates revenues estimated at $10 billion. Syria, which controls 80% of the world market, is the main producer of this amphetamine-type drug. The country derives most of its revenue from illegal trafficking in Captagon.
The drug is marketed in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Jordan, Kuwait, and Turkey, where it wreaks havoc among the working population and young people eager to party. The largest Captagon seizures have taken place in Saudi Arabia, with more than 190 million capsules intercepted by security forces in 2021.
According to a France 24 investigation into trafficking networks in the Middle East, Captagon enters Saudi Arabia via the provinces of Suwayda and Daraa, in southern Syria.
Captagon is produced in lawless areas of Syria, a country ravaged by more than a decade of war: ‘four or five big names usually join forces and share the cost of a $10 million shipment, covering raw materials, transport, and bribes’.
Captagon is also known as the jihadists’ drug. According to researcher Jean-Pol Tassin, Captagon, whose generic name is fenethylline, ‘acts on the brain’s reward circuit. The person therefore has the impression that all is well, even when it is not. They are no longer afraid of risk. Not of their own death, nor the death of others’.
Seifeddine Rezgui, the alleged perpetrator of the attacks at the Sousse seaside resort in Tunisia, in which dozens of tourists were killed, was under the influence of Captagon at the time. An autopsy carried out by Tunisian police investigators revealed traces of the drug in his body. Testimonies gathered from survivors say that he was laughing aloud as he emptied his clip into his victims.
The widespread publicity surrounding the ‘disinhibiting effects’ of Captagon has given rise to a large-scale illicit trade in this narcotic in Europe, mainly from Syria and Lebanon, even though its regular use can lead to serious heart disease and depression.
In April 2023, control officers from the Lebanese internal security forces seized a container containing ten million Captagon pills, concealed in a cargo of rubber carbon, in the district of Tripoli, the country’s second largest city. Investigators revealed that the goods were destined for Saudi Arabia via Senegal.
This seizure followed one made in Morocco a year earlier, involving two million Captagon capsules. The illicit goods were hidden inside a container on board a European-flagged ship from Lebanon. The container, seized at the Tanger Med port in Tangiers, was carrying barrels of everyday consumer goods and was clearly destined for a country in West Africa.
Many fear that Captagon will invade the African market for psychotropic substances, which is already dominated by the widespread use of several synthetic drugs from the amphetamine family.
Indeed, the first seizure of Captagon in Lebanon mentioned above, which was apparently destined for Saudi Arabia via Senegal, leaves many grey areas insofar as the investigation was unable to reveal whether the entire shipment was to be sent to the Middle East, making the port of Dakar a transit zone rather than the final destination of the illicit goods, or whether the cargo was to be received in a Senegalese warehouse before being repackaged and sent on to other Arab or West African markets.
The Captagon seizure at the Tangier Med port, which investigators tersely stated was destined for a ‘West African country’ without any further details, shows the extent to which the regional synthetic drugs market is booming.
Indeed, the feeling of omnipotence and the desire to surpass oneself in combat, which make Captagon a popular drug among jihadist groups fighting in conflict zones in the Middle East, could explain its penetration and success in the Sahel and the Gulf of Guinea countries, where fighters affiliated with the Islamic State and al-Qaeda are also active.
The context of instability prevailing in West Africa means that the region could very soon position itself as a consumer market. There is an absolute imperative for state control bodies based on the maritime and land borders to step up surveillance to prevent Captagon, which is visibly attracting growing numbers of synthetic drug enthusiasts, from penetrating the African market.
Chapter five of the book talks about Molly or Ecstasy, the drug of the Elite in African Capitals ‘Molly’ is the name of a new drug that is all the rage in African capitals. Young partygoers are taking up the drug, particularly in Dakar, where users report that it is a tremendous success in urban areas.
It has a reputation for creating euphoria and disinhibiting its youthful users, making them feel at ease in their social interactions. It is also known as the ‘party drug’. Senegalese customs have made a number of ecstasy seizures in recent months, as reported by the General Directorate of Customs reports.
The drug comes from other countries in the sub-region, particularly The Gambia, where it is imported in small quantities by young people who regularly travel to neighbouring countries to obtain it. It is concealed in other merchandise, particularly girls’ ready-to-wear clothing. It is sold on the local market in Dakar, and the profits from this trade are used to finance other illicit imports of the drug. For the time being, the trade does not involve any powerful networks, just young people taking advantage of the novelty to build up a market. Most of the people stopped by Senegal’s customs services are young people under the age of thirty.
According to specialists, ecstasy is a member of the MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine) family. The doses are presented in the form of sweets of assorted colours and sizes, but also in powder, capsule, or crystal form.
Each dose can contain up to 200 mg of MDMA. It can be combined with other stimulants such as caffeine. Its success with young people is also linked to its affordable price. A dose is sold for between CFA francs 5,000 and 10,000 in places where ecstasy is retailed.
Ecstasy was originally produced purely for medical use. In fact, it was in the 1980s that this drug was widely used by the youth community in the United States, before being popularised in Europe ten years later.
Ecstasy is produced mainly in Europe, particularly in Belgium and the Netherlands. Manufacturing this synthetic drug is inexpensive and does not require the use of sophisticated chemical laboratories. Instructions on how to make it are easily found in books and on the internet, readily available to virtually anyone with criminal intents or other motives. And yet, ecstasy production in the United States pales in comparison with Europe.
Belgium is the new hub for ecstasy trafficking. The drug is sent to the importing countries by post.
Chapter VI:
Tramadol: ensnaring young people from disadvantaged suburbs
Chapter six of the book talks about Tramadol and how it is ensnaring young people from disadvantaged suburbs.
According to Colonel Amadou Tidiane Cissé, UNODC experts have been warning for several years about the non-medical use of pharmaceutical opioids, which has reached critical levels in West Africa.
Tramadol was originally a synthetic opioid analgesic prescribed to relieve pain. It has a ‘similar activity to codeine, as it is a codeine analogue. It is a class 2 analgesic. It acts on the same type of receptor as morphine (…). It can lead to dependence, but [the risk of dependency] appears to be lower than that of other morphine mimetics, while remaining significantly higher than that of so-called class 1 analgesics’.
Antoine Tisseron, who has taken part in a number of research projects initiated by the UNODC, notably on the international trafficking of tramadol and synthetic opioids, believes that the drug is most often purchased through informal channels by mine workers, for example, due to its action as a painkiller.
Experts who have worked on tramadol tell us that it is also used for recreational purposes, including to improve users’ sexual performance.
Trafficking in this opiate has become a lucrative business in West Africa, where there has been an exponential increase in the number of users, particularly taxi and bus drivers who make long journeys, with all the ensuing risks to the passengers they carry, as well as many other workers with particularly exhausting professional duties, such as miners. Also known as the ‘poor man’s drug’ due to its cheapness, it is mainly imported from China and India.
The pharmaceutical sector in India has experienced an extraordinary boom, so much so that the country is now known as the ‘pharmacy of the world’, an expression originated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In 2021-2022, exports of medicines and pharmaceutical products from India were estimated at 24.6 billion dollars. The United States of America is the leading export market for pharmaceutical products, accounting for 32.1% of total exports. It is followed by Africa, which accounts for 17.96% of the market.
India has taken advantage of the legal recognition of generic medicines to position itself as the world leader in pharmaceutical exports. However, alongside legal exports of the product, illegal trafficking of tramadol to Africa has developed.
According to Antonin Tisseron:
the main entry points for Indian exports of illicit tramadol in West Africa in recent years have been Nigeria, Benin, and Guinea Conakry. Although the sea route is the most commonly used, some of the drugs imported without authorisation are transported by air. Once in West Africa, opioids follow the main trade corridors. A number of methods are used to evade controls: false declarations, citing another country as the final destination, concealment among other goods, storage in boxes labelled as everyday consumer goods, etc. Traffickers also use overland transport routes to avoid checks and [store the drugs in] transit warehouses, as on the border between Niger and Nigeria.
In the West African countries most exposed to this illicit trade, customs officers make large-scale seizures of tramadol on an almost daily basis. However, despite their determination to stop illegal imports of tramadol, they have been unable to curb its illicit sale.
For instance, in 2018, Nigerian customs seized 150 tonnes of tramadol in thirty-five containers, following a tightening of controls at the port of Lagos designed to improve the response to illegal trafficking in tramadol, which had started to gain ground. The shipments seized included overdosed tablets, exceeding the authorised level of 100 mg.
During the same year, the Ivorian drug control authorities also seized 44 tonnes of the pharmaceutical opioid.
In February 2022, the Guinean authorities also seized twenty-four lorries full of cartons of tramadol bound for the African black market. Drugs crossing Guinea’s maritime borders are then exported to other African countries, particularly those in the throes of armed conflict, such as Burkina Faso.
In Sotouboua, north of the Togolese capital, 14,930 blister packs of tramadol 225 mg were intercepted during an operation by the Togolese Central Office for the Repression of Illicit Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering (OCRTIDB) in 2021. Reportedly, the warehouse was located in Lomé, Togo. Investigations revealed that the illicit goods originated in Conakry, Guinea, and the vehicle was registered in Nigeria. This example clearly demonstrates the regional scope of illicit tramadol trafficking and shows that the networks involved in the illegal drug trade are targeting a broader West African market.
They coordinate their criminal activities in a regional market of almost half a billion people, taking into account the comparative advantages offered by each country: choosing the port where they have the best chance of bringing in their illicit goods, warehousing in countries where they can be collected and transported to their ultimate destination, crossing porous or unguarded land borders and using the logistics (hydrocarbon tankers or goods lorries) that they deem most suitable for supplying the consumer markets of the sub-region, hence the need to coordinate at regional level the activities of the defence and security forces engaged in the fight against illicit trafficking in all forms of synthetic drugs.
The Jihadists’ drug, the party drug, the poor man’s drug … the synthetic drug market is booming in West Africa. The names reflect the segmentation of the synthetic drug market, with customers looking for the specific effects attributed to each type of drug: endurance for young fighters enlisted by groups waging jihad in West Africa, performance enhancement for workers, euphoria for partygoers, and so on.
Young people are exposed to risk-taking behaviour as soon as they leave adolescence, and they find in drugs a means of asserting and surpassing themselves. Youth is a time in our lives when we experiment with many new things, including drug use. However, drug use eventually leads to addiction. Young people from all socio-economic backgrounds are not immune to the desire for greater freedom and enhanced performance.
The impact of drug use on the health of users, particularly young people, has been covered in numerous studies and publications. It can include depression, strokes, high blood pressure, lung disease, and schizophrenia, to name but a few.