West Africa described as cocaine centre

Page 48: February 29, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia

THE United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has described West Africa as a cocaine stockpiling centre and attributed the problem to widespread corruption and poor law enforcement structures.
It said drug traffickers perceived the sub-region as having a permissive working environment for the drug trade as many of the countries face “difficulties in controlling their territory and administering justice, and are plagued by corruption”.
This was contained in its October 2007 publication “Cocaine Trafficking in Western Africa: Situation Report”.
It said the geographical position of West Africa made it easier for cocaine from South America to get to the growing market in Europe.
Moreover, it said, there had been increased law enforcement successes in the Caribbean and in Europe, which might have played a part in the development of alternative routes for traffickers.
Citing cases of corruption and weak law enforcement in the sub-region, it said in Guinea-Bissau, the authorities seized 670 kilogrammes of cocaine in September 2006 but freed the suspects soon after their arrest and the drug consignment disappeared.
It said another example was the volumes of cocaine seized in Africa as compared to volumes seized by European navies off the coast of Africa.
“In 2005, the total cocaine seizures for all 53 African countries amounted to about 2.5 metric tonnes, while in July 2005, in a single catch in Europe, the Spanish navy seized 3.1 metric tonnes in a Ghanaian ship, representing almost 40 per cent more than the cocaine seizures on the entire continent,” it said.
The report noted also that “in 2006, the Spanish navy seized a total of 9.8 metric tonnes of cocaine off the coast of Africa, more than three times the seizures on the entire continent, which amounted to about 2.9 metric tonnes”.
It said preliminary data for 2007 clearly showed that West Africa was emerging as an important staging post along the route from South America to the growing cocaine market in Europe.
It said preliminary data for the first nine months of 2007 indicated a record level of 5.7 metric tonnes of cocaine seized in African countries, which represented an increase of 50 per cent compared to 2.8 metric tonnes seized in 2006.
“Out of the 5.7 metric tonnes of cocaine seized so far in 2007, 99 per cent were reported from West African countries: 2.4 metric tonnes were seized in Senegal in June, almost 1.5 metric tonnes in Mauritania between May and August, 0.6 metric tonne in Guinea Bissau in April, 0.5 metric tonne in Cape Verde in March, 0.4 metric tonne in Benin in August and 0.2 metric tonne in Guinea,” it said.
According to the report, in 2006, two seizures in West Africa, one made in Ghana involving 1.9 metric tonnes and one in Guinea Bissau, 0.6 metric tonne, both accounted for 90 per cent of all seizures reported on the continent.
“And this is probably only the tip of the iceberg because the lack of seizure reports from neighbouring Western African countries does not necessarily mean the absence of trafficking in these countries, but more likely the deficiency of law enforcement capacities,” it said.
“The phenomenon is growing not only in volume, but also in sophistication, with traffickers having established air connections between Latin America and Africa. Speed boats, until recently, used only for cocaine trafficking between Latin America and the United States, are now also used between Africa and Europe,” it said.
The drugs are mostly shipped to West Africa on fishing boats and freighters, with the drug usually concealed in areas built especially for that purpose in the frame of the boat, such as a modified oil tank.
The report said the cocaine seized in Ghana in May 2006 in a small coastal village provided a good example of countries along the Gulf of Guinea being used by traffickers for stockpiling.
It said the drug traffickers had also successfully managed to organise and set up direct flight connections with small planes between Latin America and West Africa with interceptions of some of such flights in Guinea Bissau and Mauritania, for example.
It said the analysis of selected EU airport seizures also highlighted the importance of western Africa in cocaine trafficking.
“In 2006, out of the 822 reports of cocaine seizures in European airports sent to UNODC, 122, representing 13 per cent, were made from flights originating from Africa. Of the 122 cases of cocaine seizures from African countries, 117 or 96 per cent originated from western African countries,” it said.
The report said based on the 117 cases reported to the UNODC, the average quantity of cocaine seized in European airports from flights originating in western African countries was 3.9 kilogrammes per incident in 2006, stressing that “in 42 cases, the drug was concealed in the luggage (an average of 5.3 kg) and in 30 cases, cocaine had been ingested (an average of 0.8 kg)”.
It said the importance of western Africa in trafficking cocaine to Europe was also evidenced by the nationalities of the persons arrested for drug trafficking at European airports.
It said in 2006, the UNODC recorded the arrests of 442 persons for cocaine trafficking from European airports and holders of African passports accounted for 16 per cent of the cases, with West Africa alone representing 14 per cent of all cases and 90 per cent of the Africans arrested.