September 27, 2012 – 1:33 pm
Increasing evidence of amphetamines trafficking suggests that the narcotics trade in Africa continues to expand and evolve. Imported pre-cursor chemicals have been stolen in Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire; sophisticated labs have been broken up in Nigeria, Guinea, and South Africa; and numerous Africans have been arrested trafficking high-priced meth in Asia. Weak knowledge of amphetamine inputs, inconsistent reporting to regional and international bodies, and lax investigation of manufacturing has severely impeded response efforts by African authorities.
October 6, 2011 – 10:46 am
Africa features prominently in the global heroin trade as a transshipment point and a significant consumer market. Traffic to and through the continent is dominated by Africans, who account for 50 percent of all drug arrests in Pakistan. Sharply higher traffic through African commercial air and seaports suggest a need for more robust customs regimes and stronger investigative and judicial follow through to better understand and frustrate smuggling networks.
Organized crime and attendant illicit trafficking has undermined the rule of law in various regions around Africa and become both cause and symptom of instability and conflict. Efforts to confront these challenges are too often merely national or bilateral in scope, against which the transnational complexity and sophistication of criminal networks has proven very resilient.
