Drug trafficking in West Africa: state of play

Cannabis (photo), cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines... West Africa is a land of transit and consumption for drug trafficking.

© Sean_Warren/Gettyimage

Text by: Arnaud Jouve Follow

14 mins

Regularly, seizures or events related to drug trafficking evoke the vulnerability of West Africa, located at the crossroads of several routes widely used by drug traffickers.

State of play with Amado Philip de Andrés, Regional Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for West and Central Africa, whose regional office is in Dakar, in Senegal.

Interview.

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RFI: Amado Philip de Andrés, you who have access to all the information available on international drug trafficking in West Africa, what are the major trends you are currently observing?

Amado Philip de Andrés:

 If we see the situation as it was in West Africa in 2008 and we look at the situation now, it's a bit " 

 future" ). West Africa has become a hub for cannabis resin trafficking. In 2021, 57 tons of cannabis were seized, including a macro seizure of 17 tons in Niger. UNODC

investigations and

, the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCCDA/EMCCDA), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris and the Security Council Resolution 2541 of 2020 Group of Experts on Mali have confirmed that the cannabis route crosses the Sahel and identified individuals who are part of armed groups connected with hashish traffickers in the Sahel sub-region. In addition, we have a cocaine traffic that always seeks to redirect part of its production to West Africa to reach Europe through the Mediterranean Sea and the Balkans. What we are seeing now is a change in

, from the same countries of origin of the traffic, on the same transatlantic routes. In 2008, drug traffickers mainly used submarines made in South America. But since 2019, 2020 and 2021, they have instead used fishing boats which have been adapted to be able to transport between a ton and a ton and a half of cocaine on each trip. What has also changed is that the trafficking networks have become multinational. We continue to see Europeans, mainly from cocaine destination countries such as the Balkans, but we are now also seeing more and more South Americans and citizens of countries in the region. But the question that worries us now is that, thanks to the development of the economies of the region, drug traffickers have discovered that in Senegal,in Ghana or Cape Verde and in several countries on the coast, there is a middle class likely to become a new consumer base and the current traffic is particularly aimed at them.  

Drug seizures in Africa between March 2020 and April 2021 © UNODC

Is local consumption in West Africa increasing sharply?

In Senegal, for example, for two and a half years, UNODC has been providing technical support to the government to set up an observatory on drug consumption and trafficking, with the Interministerial Committee for the Fight against Drugs as its focal point –composed notably from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of the Interior, with several universities in Senegal and a very generous contribution from the French Republic, combined with funds from the Government of Senegal. Because beyond the consumption of cannabis, there is a consumption of cocaine, tramadol (opioid drug) and new psychoactive substances that come from Asia. We estimated to have, for example, nearly 10,000 drug addicts in Senegal, but the latest treatment figures show more than 24,000 people and I think that,in two years, there will be more than 50,000. Before, we observed that 5% to 8% of the cocaine which transited in the region, remained on the spot, but today this figure has increased to 10%-17 %. This indicates that there is a growing consumer base regionally and this is a big cause for concern.

Lately I was in Nouakchott and the Mauritanian authorities were telling me that they now had a drug use problem that didn't exist in 2008. In 2008, about half of the cocaine produced in South America was going to Europe through West Africa and the other half went North. Today, we have a reinforcement of the coastal roads as shown by the seizures over the last twenty months. Over this period, the authorities seized 11 tonnes in Cape Verde, 5 tonnes in Senegal, 4 tonnes in Benin, 3 tonnes in Gambia, 2.7 tonnes in Guinea-Bissau and almost 2 tonnes in Côte d'Ivoire. So there were 47 tonnes of cocaine seized, a figure that might need to be multiplied by 20 or more to get an idea of ​​the actual volumes in transit between Latin America and West Africa. 

Cocaine in West Africa © RFI / source UNODC

What are the main international drug trafficking routes that affect West Africa?

Currently we have three main routes. The Nouakchott route, which comes from the Maghreb and touches the same countries as the cocaine route and then the heroin route from the Indian Ocean. This last route, which passed through countries in the Indian Ocean such as Kenya, Mauritius or the Seychelles, previously arrived in East Africa and went back to Europe

the Sahara. Today, following traffic constraints created by the Covid, this traditional heroin route from the Indian Ocean has changed. It transits through East Africa, then goes to South Africa and returns to Europe by sea, bypassing the continent by boat

West Africa. Knowing that 10%-17% of the product remains in the various countries for local consumers, this is another source of concern for the region.

Another big problem, which has spread particularly in West Africa, is the consumption of tramadol. An opioid that comes mainly from the Indian subcontinent, the consumption of which first developed in 2018 throughout North Africa, the Maghreb and the Machrek. Tramadol then spread like a veritable pandemic in West Africa, where it is now found everywhere. In addition, it is a product that combines very well with the use of cocaine and sometimes with new psychotropic substances. It has become a major problem in West Africa, not only in the countries of the Sahel but also on all the countries of the coast and it is currently spreading in Central Africa.

Regarding cocaine, the three producing countries are mainly Colombia, but also Peru and Bolivia.

Cocaine often transits through other countries such as Brazil before arriving in Africa.

What can we currently say about this cocaine traffic? 

Between 7% and 10% of the traffic is by air, but the majority transits by boat.

In 2008, the Colombian authorities showed UNODC, once seized, submarines manufactured in Colombia by criminal networks, or more precisely semi-submersibles for transport which cost between 70,000 and 120,000 euros each, but their capacities were limited and they had to use several to cross the Atlantic and go up towards Europe.

So in order to do that, they had to ship several submarines by boat to make the whole trip. 

Today, traffickers favor fishing boats.

They are fishing boats of the “dhow” type (like the boats made in Asia), which are manufactured in Latin America and which, in addition, have fish holds, specially fitted compartments, which can carry more than one ton of cocaine.

Larger quantities are often transported in containers on commercial lines. 

What we observe is that the traffickers use the same routes, but with stronger boats.

The Covid has had an impact on this activity.

Many of these fishing boats had to wait with their goods for months before reaching the exclusive economic zones, because there were transport restrictions, but today they are resuming their activities.

The cocaine routes between 2015 and 2019 © UNODC

Much of the cocaine that crosses West Africa through the interior, destined for Europe, contributes to the financing of the conflicts in the Sahel and the Sahara.

What do we know about the existing links between terrorists and drug traffickers?

As I mentioned to you, UNODC is concerned about the connections between certain individuals belonging to armed groups with hashish traffickers in the Sahel sub-region. 

Thus, it is necessary to understand well the functioning of the terrorists. In 2008, when al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb began to position itself in Gao and in very specific places in the Sahel and the Sahara, it was terrorism. But since then they have started operating as a transnational organized criminal group and they try to go unnoticed by intermingling with local communities. In 2008, we were even able to observe Colombian drug traffickers who were in Gao and who were negotiating rights of passage with the Tuaregs and with al-Qaeda. Now it's more difficult to see that, because the traffickers' cells are part of the community: they are much more numerous and they blend into the population. In al-Qaeda or Boko Haram, they are sometimes part of the population, whereas in Daesh, the

is completely different, they impose themselves as an outside terrorist group and their relationship with the community is completely different. 

To confront this scourge, there is of course the military response, but we must also begin to ask ourselves how to cut the roots of this connection with young people.

In Africa, in this region, 72% of the population is under 23 years old.

There is a development problem, this very young population dreams of progressing like in Europe but it is frustrated.

The average age in Europe is 45, here it is 23.

What happens to a young person who has nothing in a lost village in Mali, who has no prospects?

What does he think about when he meets hashish dealers, cocaine dealers or terrorists?

The problem is that with frustration, young people all dream of making money and lots of it.

They become carriers, begin to travel and earn money, generally at the beginning 1% on the goods conveyed.

These young carriers also come into contact with terrorists and develop networks with them and their community. 

Today, the border between terrorism and drug trafficking is more fluid and constantly adapts.

There is no more organizational chart as before, they use digital.

It's an informal system where members of the population go into contact with other people to establish contact, to obtain a right of passage.

What the traffickers want is not only to ship to Europe, it is also to create a consumer market. 

Drug traffickers, for example from South America, who operate internationally, always try to keep control over the goods, because the price increases with the distance traveled.

From the point of origin, the profit on the price of cocaine increases every 15 km by 1.7%.

So if the cocaine gets through West Africa, it's even better and the purity is very high, almost 100%, which means it's a luxury product with a lot of money.

The drug traffickers, through their criminal networks, always stay in contact with the carriers and keep control over their merchandise until the product arrives on the street in Paris or London to have access to the final price.

What role can the United Nations play in this situation? 

I think we have several types of role to play and the first is to help our customers, the countries, through quality technical assistance. We are developing international control programs that were born here in Senegal for some of them, such as AIRCOP on air traffic or the Container Control Program, created in 2003, which was developed jointly by UNODC and the World Customs Organization (WCO) to help governments create sustainable hardening structures in selected ports to minimize the risks of containers being used for drug smuggling, transnational crime and drug trafficking. But also,we help countries to adapt their legislation by developing, for example, rights to health assistance to deal with the proliferation of consumers who should not be considered criminals. These new approaches, which are enshrined in UN conventions as well as in the acquis communautaire of European Union countries, are now also in countries in the region such as Senegal, which is, for example, considered a champion country in this area from a legislative point of view. A few years ago, before the declaration of Praia in 2008, legislation in the region penalized consumers, considering them criminals. Today on this issue, Senegal can be taken as an example in the French-speaking area,such as Cape Verde in the Portuguese-speaking area or Ghana in the English-speaking area. 

The third point that seems very relevant to me is the strengthening of state capacities to fight against drug trafficking and transnational organized crime. As UNODC regional director, what I see in the Sahel is that we have traditionally emphasized military responses to armed groups. Today, it should be a priority to start supporting the efforts of the countries of the region to strengthen the entire judicial chain. This is called the “legal finish”. Because there has been a tendency to forget the penitentiary system for too long and not to see the entire penal chain as the main instrument for witnessing a paradigm shift. With Mauritania, Senegal, all the countries on the coast, but also with Burkina Faso and the countries of the Sahel,the UNODC is working on the way in which we can support the countries of the region to strengthen the capacities for investigation and inter-state coordination, but also the capacities for prosecuting crimes. You have to think about several countries like traffickers do and be able to work on several bases in several places. In addition, we must strengthen cooperation between prosecutors and the penitentiary system, like what Burkina Faso is currently doing with its prisons. So, we have to look at the whole judicial chain, investigation, cooperation of regional interest, cooperation with other jurisdictions in Latin America and Europe, imprisonment and reintegration, otherwise we will have a whole lost generation.

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