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The Flows: Cocaine from the Andes Via West Africa to Europe

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The Flows: Cocaine from the Andes Via West Africa to Europe 4.2. From Africa to Europe: Flow map BM 01.03.09 EUROPE Atlantic Ocean Mediterranean Sea MAURITANIA Red Sea MALI CAPE VERDE SENEGAL THE GAMBIA NIGER GUINEA-BISSAU GUINEA BURKINA FASO BENIN SIERRA TOGO LEONE CÔTE Cocaine flows D’IVOIRE NIGERIA LIBERIA GHANA From Transit areas BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA, 1 000 km COLOMBIA, ECUADOR, PERU, BRAZIL COCAINE FROM THE ANDES VIA WEST rable to the drug trade, it had the potential to “crowd AFRICA TO EUROPE Evolution of measured apprehensions at out”several otherEuropean forms countries' of bor economicders, 1999-2008 activity. A similar risk (vertical scales are differents) pertained in the political sphere – pursuit of drug graft What is the nature of the market? threatened governance and stability. Migrants apprehended in Spain Migrants apprehended in Italy Migrants apprehended in Malta at sea border (thousands) • (thousands) and Africans apprehended in Greece Few transnational contraband flows have generated more There was fear that insurgents and extremists(thousands through) - 30 alarm than the flow of cocaine through WestStrait Africa. of Gibraltar/ Around out the region50 would be in a position to facilitate3 Alborean Sea 20 Canary Islands 2.5 Malta 2005, it became clear that massive amounts of drugs, worth trafficking,40 thusRest of drawing Italy resources to their cause and 10 2 billions of dollars, were being shipped through one of the increasing30 the potentialSicily* for violence. Egyptians in Greece least stable regions in the world.2 The signs were unmistak- 1.5 20 Somali Unfortunately, it appears some of these risks were1 in realized: Greece able: 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 10 Sardinia • There have been a series of coups, attempted0.5 coups, • Between 2005 and 2007, a series of more than 20 and other forms of political unrest in Guinea-Bissau, major seizures were made in the West African region, including the 1999 assassination2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 of2006 2007 President2008 Vieira in2000 2009.2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 involving thousands of kilograms of cocaine. Most While the conflict*including Lampedusaappears to have occurred along well- of the seizures were made at sea, but some involved established political fault lines, competition for cocaine private aircraft or caches detected on land. These sei- zures appear to have been the tip of the iceberg: most profits raised the stakes and augmented tensions were made due to the assistance of European navies between rival groups. or foreign tip-offs, and some were stumbled upon by • When Guinean president Lansana Conté died at the accident. end of 2008, it was revealed that members of his imme- • At the same time, hundreds of commercial air couriers diate family and elite military units had been involved were detected carrying cocaine on flights from West in drug trafficking, allegedly making use of diplomatic Africa to Europe. passports and pouches to move cocaine. • There were indications of high-level involvement in the • In Mauritania, high-ranking police personnel were drug trade in a number of countries in West Africa. convicted on charges relating to cocaine trafficking in 2010, but were released from prison in 2011 and The risks were equally clear: subsequently disappeared. • If the drugs seized had made it to Europe, their retail • In The Gambia in 2010, the president dismissed most value would have exceeded the GDP of some of the of his senior security staff for alleged involvement in nations they transited, suggesting criminal organiza- drug trafficking, including the national police chief tions with greater resources at their disposal than the and his deputy, the navy chief, the deputy army chief, affected states. the head of the National Drug Enforcement Agency, • Since in some countries no legitimate commercial his deputy, and his chief of operations. Several of these activity had the potential to generate incomes compa- men were convicted of corruption in 2012. 9 TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME IN WEST AFRICA Map 1: Major cocaine seizures in West Africa (2005-2011) PLACE OF COCAINE SEIZURE (QUANTITY IN KG*) 2005 2006 1,884 2007 TUNISIA 2008 2009 MOROCCO 2010 2011 3,700 LIBYA 2,252 ALGERIA Western Sahara 630 MAURITANIA 1,500 MALI 830 NIGER CAPE VERDE 3,000 120 3,100 500 1,250 1,200 SENEGAL THE GAMBIA BURKINA 2,140 GUINEA-BISSAU 635 FASO 116 647 GUINEA BENIN TOGO 170 100 405 NIGERIA 1,500 SIERRA LEONE GHANA 274 1,300 3,210 703 CÔTE 165 D’IVOIRE 388 96 450 2,500 360 LIBERIA 160 110 125 96 CAMEROON 500 KM 3,700 1,900 588 125 840 *ONLY SEIZURES ABOVE 90 KG ARE DISPLAYED Source: UNODC Individual Drug Seizure database (IDS) and UNODC Field Offices in the region • The Minister of Transportation of Sierra Leone was • The number of couriers emanating from the region also compelled to resign in 2008 when his cousin was found dropped off. In one database of air courier detections, to be associated with a private aircraft containing over 59% of the cocaine couriers detected in the second 700 kg of cocaine. Subsequent court testimony impli- quarter of 2007 had originated in West Africa; in the cated the Minister himself. third quarter of 2009, no couriers from the region were detected. • Many of the large seizures of cocaine made by West Af- rican governments later disappeared from police custo- There are a number of possible reasons for this decline: dy, indicating high-level law enforcement corruption.3 • For the South American traffickers, one of the virtues • There have been repeated allegations that insurgents of using the West African route was its novelty – law and extremists in the Sahel have been gaining income enforcement authorities were not expecting cocaine to from the trafficking of cocaine across the regions they come from this region. By 2008, due to the interna- control. It remains possible that these funds contrib- tional attention the flow received, much of this novelty uted to the recent rebellion in Mali. had been lost. • The political turmoil around 2008 and 2009 may have But around 2008, there were a number of indications that disrupted the channels of corruption that facilitated this flow had begun to abate: trafficking through the region. • Large seizures declined drastically. In 2007, there were • Prior to 2009, it appears that most of the cocaine seized at least 11 seizures of more than 100 kg of cocaine was the property of South American traffickers, and around West Africa, totaling over 11 tons; in 2009, a that the West Africans were merely being paid for logis- single seizure of 160 kg was made. tic services. When these seizures later disappeared from 10 Cocaine from the Andes via West Africa to Europe police custody, South American partners may have concluded that they had been betrayed by the corrupt officials they were sponsoring, and severed relations. The decline in large-scale maritime trafficking • Multi-ton losses are painful for the traffickers who owned them. These losses may have led some to return Maritime movement from the West African coast to to more traditional routes, or to change techniques for Europe is rarely detected nowadays. The most recent reaching West Africa. case was in October 2011, and involved a prominent family based in the Netherlands and in Praia, Cape Nevertheless, after 2007, a number of operations driven by Verde. The family ran a real estate business as a front West Africans have been detected. Despite the reduction in and money laundering operation. Mother ships from maritime seizures and detected couriers, it appears that Brazil and Suriname were met by smaller coastal ves- some flow persists. Very large seizures of cocaine are still sels that ferried the cocaine to one of a number of occasionally made in the region, including seizures of two properties owned by the group. These drugs were tons in The Gambia in 2010, 1.5 tons in Cape Verde in then shipped to Europe in a go-fast boat. 2011, and 1.6 tons in the Canary Islands (destined for Benin) in 2012. pean destination. Cocaine shipments can also be trafficked How is the trafficking conducted? onward by sea (in containers, fishing boats, and pleasure There are several ways of getting cocaine from South Amer- craft), or by land or air across the Sahara to North Africa, ica to Europe via West Africa, all of which appear to be where they are flown to Europe in light aircraft or shuttled operating in parallel, with the favoured technique varying across the Mediterranean in go-fast boats. As with the over time in response to enforcement efforts. Both large Atlantic routes, all of these approaches are utilized in paral- and small shipments are encountered. Typically, the large lel, with the preferred technique and routing changing in shipments are the property of South American trafficking response to enforcement efforts. groups, while the smaller ones are owned by West Africans. On arrival in Europe, the drugs may be sold to European Over time, Latin American involvement in the region or South American crime groups, or distributed through appears to have declined, and so has the average seizure size. the extensive network of West Africans involved in retail In the past, large maritime shipments were favoured, but cocaine distribution. the seizures between 2005 and 2007 seem to have greatly South America reduced this flow, perhaps prompting a move to shipments in private aircraft. The aircraft used have grown progres- Cocaine transiting West Africa comes from all three source sively more sophisticated over time, from twin-engine pro- countries: Colombia, Peru, and the Plurinational State of peller planes to commercial jets, capable of carrying Bolivia. Most of the largest air and sea shipments detected multi-ton loads.
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