Twelve African countries were part of a multinational Interpol operation targeting drug trafficking networks across three continents.
Operation Lionfish Hurricane, conducted in April and May, saw 615 tons of drugs and illicit precursor chemicals, worth $1.5 billion, seized in 31 countries.
What the international police organisation termed “an unprecedented seizure” of 505 tons of precursor chemicals, used for drugs and explosives highlighted the “significant growth of transnational organised crime groups and their ability to make weapons”.
More than 56 tons of cocaine was confiscated along with 52 tons of marijuana, ketamine, and tramadol.
African countries involved in Lionfish Hurricane were Benin, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
Examples of African successes are Sierra Leone, where an in-transit cargo of six tonnes of cocaine hydrochloride en route to Belgium was confiscated and a further 1.1 tons of the same chemical bound for Europe were found hidden in a truck.
In Ghana, a trafficking ring exploiting postal shipments was dismantled when authorities seized 18.8 kg of marijuana in parcels bound for the United Kingdom (UK).
A notable seizure in Guyana, South America, saw a semi-submersible vessel located in a jungle. It, according to Interpol, is one of many homemade “narco-subs” capable of carrying up to three tons of cocaine along South American rivers and waterways, before loading for shipping across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe.
Apart from precursor chemicals used for weapons, Lionfish Hurricane operators confiscated thirty thousand commercial grade detonators across South America and 280 firearms and grenades.
Sixty-five stolen motor vehicles were intercepted in South America and West Africa, including a car recovered in Benin four months after it was stolen in Canada.
The operation is part of a new Interpol programme – I-RAID (Interpol Response Against Illicit Drugs). It is s six-year initiative to combat drug trafficking by operations and analysis, capacity building and training, partnerships and outreach as well as targeting the proceeds of crime.
Interpol Secretary-General Jürgen Stock noted at the closure of Lionfish Hurricane the value of drugs seized in the two-month long op “is higher than the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of some countries, showing the scale of the problem facing law enforcement”.
“Organized crime networks continue to expand their reach and the devastating consequences their activities bring. We will, and must, unite our efforts to combat this national security threat which threatens every country,” Stock said.
Since 2013, Lionfish operations have netted seizures worth $3.6 billion and 5 617 arrests in 108 countries.
