WEST AFRICA A HAVEN FOR DRUGS

Dakar - Lax law enforcement, a strategic location and an inexhaustible
supply of couriers have made West Africa an emerging transit point for
South American and home grown cartels shipping drugs to Europe and beyond,
say United Nations officials.

By building up a web of offshore drop sites and willing mules, both the
Latin American cartels and smaller West African criminal networks have
smuggled millions of dollars in cocaine, cannabis and heroin through the
region over the last decade, the UN Office of Drug Control (Unodc) said in
a new report.

Major seizures connected to West Africa

"The role of the locals, in most cases, is very limited except for allowing
the cartels to locate facilities and logistic bases in West Africa," said
Antonio Mazzitelli, West and Central Africa director for Unodc.

"Most of the major seizures in the last year have had some connection with
West Africa."

War-torn Sierra Leone and Liberia have been ideal ports of call for ships
to offload tonnes of drugs sent by the Brazilian, Colombian and Venezuelan
cartels that dominate the cocaine trade.

Ivory Coast, too, was a major conduit for heroin until war broke out in
September 2002 and made the ports at Abidjan and San Pedro less viable for
smugglers, according to the Unodc report.

Cape Verde, the tiny archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, is the most popular
spot for drug shipments, said Virgilio Varela, chief of judicial police.

"Even last week we seized 75kg of cocaine from seven Europeans who bought
the drugs here," he said.

Trying to curb drug trafficking

"We are doing our best to stop the traffic and last year we were the number
one country in Africa in stopping drugs. But it is hard; we have 2 000km of
coastline and our territory (including territorial waters) covers 700 000
square kilometres," he said.

Sobered by the seriousness not only of the drug trade but also the impact
drugs could have on Cape Verde's already impoverished population, the
government has committed $6m to a new law enforcement program that will
include better resources for air and maritime security.

The West African networks, in particular those run by the notorious
Nigerian criminal gangs, also have an advantage in moving the drugs once
they arrive in consumer nations, the report noted.

"Many of these networks are grounded in a common ethnicity, often including
blood-ties," the report said.

Unemployed youth in West African countries are willing to risk their own
lives as drug couriers, said Mazzitelli.

"If you are without work and without money in Lagos and you are offered $1
000 plus a visa and an airline ticket to Europe to swallow some condoms
full of drugs, how are you going to say no?" he said.

"And then, once you are part of the diaspora community, and you are willing
to do anything to survive, you almost become a hostage to those links with
the criminal groups."