Guinea-Bissau, a West African nation once known as a “narco-state,” intercepted 2.63 metric tons of cocaine just months after the United Nations reported that nearby Sahel states were emerging as significant drug trafficking routes.
Authorities in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Niger seized 1.47 metric tons of cocaine in 2022 compared to an average of 13 kilograms between 2013 and 2020, according to a 2024 report from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
“The involvement of various armed groups in drug trafficking continues to undermine peace and stability in the region,” Amado Philip de Andrés, UNODC regional representative in West and Central Africa, told The Associated Press. The report said the drug trade provides financial resources to armed groups in the Sahel, where extremist networks flourish after a series of regional coups.
In a major operation, Bissau-Guinean authorities confiscated 78 bales of cocaine in September 2024 when a Gulfstream IV plane from Venezuela landed at Osvaldo Vieira International Airport in the capital, Bissau. Police arrested the crew of five, composed of two Mexican nationals and one each from Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador.
Police conducted the raid, code-named “Operation Landing,” with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre-Narcotics, Reuters reported.
Large drug busts have become more common in West Africa in recent years. Two separate operations netted 2.6 metric tons of cocaine in Guinea-Bissau in 2019. In April 2022, Cabo Verdean and U.S. authorities intercepted a Brazilian-flagged fishing ship smuggling 6 metric tons of cocaine.
In November and December 2023, the Senegalese Navy intercepted nearly 6.7 metric tons of cocaine in three separate incidents.
Smugglers often use West African nations as a transit stop between South America and Europe.
