The work of the Joint Airport Interdiction Task Forces (JAITF) supported by the AIRCOP project at different airports in West Africa provide an important insight into the fluidity of international drug trafficking networks. Three seizures at Praia airport confirm the continuing importance of Cape Verde as a springboard for air couriers travelling to Europe. On…
Almost 70% of the population of Guinea Bissau live below the poverty line and it is recognised as one of the least developed countries in the world. Once dubbed as ‘Africa’s first narco-state’, Guinea Bissau has experienced high levels of organised crime and corruption. Following a military coup in 2012, the EU cut ties with…
Spanish authorities seized more than three tons of cocaine and broke up an international drug trafficking ring in Madrid. According to the Spanish police, the organisation was composed by a group of Serbian ex-soldiers that brough cocaine from Latin America to Europe. Sixty-nine people were arrested. The Austrian police arrested a father and a son…
Two Ghanaians were accused by the Ghanaian authorities of allegedly aiding a Bolivian drug ring to smuggle approximately 5,800 kg of cocaine from Bolivia to Burkina Faso. The two accused are a businessman with connections in Latin America and an ex-officer of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA). According to the prosecution,…
It is reported that Mali’s foreign minister Abdoulaye Diop asked the UN Security Council to support the government in the fight against drug traffickers and roll out an emergency aid package following the signing of a peace deal. At a meeting in Bamako the government an armed groups signed an accord to end the violence…
