Crime

West Africa’s drug trafficking surge fuels local addiction

Published

3 weeks ago

October 3, 2025

Drug trafficking through West Africa is deepening addiction and straining public resources in some of the world’s poorest countries, used to transit contraband towards Europe.

The United Nations sounded the alarm last year that smuggling through the Sahel — a semi-arid region below the Sahara where poverty and armed groups are rife — was on the rise, noting an increase in large-scale cocaine seizures in recent years.

But government officials, doctors and researchers told AFP such trafficking — in addition to providing money for criminal groups — leads to contraband spilling over into the local market in low-income countries, where treatment options are sparse.

“Once it finds its way into the system, even if the rationale behind it is to export it to other countries, some will find itself within the country,” said Alexander Twum Barimah, deputy director general of the Narcotics Control Commission in Ghana.

West Africa has long been “a natural stopover” for drugs — mostly cocaine from Latin America — making their way to North Africa and Europe, mostly through maritime routes but increasingly overland, a 2024 report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) noted.

Heroin and meth from Asia also pass through the region, en route from east and southern Africa towards Europe, according to the UN.

While drug profits are higher in Europe, some contraband ends up diverted along the way, notably when low-level traffickers are paid in-kind, experts say.

According to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC), as much as 30 per cent of Europe’s cocaine could be transiting through West Africa, as routes from South America come under pressure from law enforcement and European demand rises.

The problem of drug abuse is not new in West Africa, and some drugs, including cannabis and meth, are produced locally.

But countries in the region can hardly handle the influx from trafficking.

According to 2019 UN data, 14.4 per cent of Nigerians aged between 15 and 64 years had used drugs in the past year — more than double the global average of 5.6 per cent.

That figure is expected to keep rising, Akanidomo Ibanga, Nigeria country project officer for the UNODC, told AFP, due to trafficking, the proliferation of conflict and a booming youth population facing a lack of economic opportunities.

– Rehab centres lacking –

Six states in Nigeria don’t have a single drug treatment centre, while another nine only have one, according to a 2022 count.

The entire country of more than 200 million people has only 2,500 beds, Ibanga said — meaning some 10,000 people can be treated in a given year, out of the estimated three million Nigerians who need help.

On a quiet street on the outskirts of Abuja, the offices of Vanguard Against Drug Abuse lie behind an unmarked gate, indistinguishable from the houses around it, in an effort to provide privacy for those staying there.

Inside are chess boards, a ping pong table and meeting spaces for group therapy. Its 600,000 naira ($400) per month rate for in-patient therapy is described by founder Abraham Hope Omeiza as heavily discounted — but is still nearly nine times the minimum wage.

The 500 or so people Vanguard treats in both in-patient and out-patient therapy each year “is not enough”, Omeiza told AFP.

– Shifting local markets –

Moving drugs through West Africa also entrenches corruption in the region, researchers warn.

In Sierra Leone, investigative journalists have linked Dutch national Jos Leijdekkers, who is on Europol’s most-wanted list for cocaine trafficking, to the local political elite, including the president’s family.

The country, which only has a single psychiatric hospital, is currently battling an epidemic of people using kush — a synthetic cannabinoid used locally — as well as crack, derived from cocaine.

Ibrahim Kargbo, a senior director at the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency, told AFP his agency is worried Sierra Leone “is rapidly becoming a trafficking corridor”.

In Ghana, a 2021 survey found cocaine was the most widely abused drug in the greater Accra region, followed by heroin and crack.

The region is also seeing an influx of tramadol, an opioid imported for the domestic market, but which has been aided in part by the success of heroin dealers.

In recent months, Ghanaian authorities have put out education campaigns against “red”, a high-strength variant of tramadol.

“If you are in that space where you cannot afford heroin, you rely on red,” said Maria-Goretti Ane Loglo, who has researched drug use in Ghana.

Nana Twum, a farmer in Ghana’s Western Region, told AFP earlier this year that “when I use them, I feel stronger at work.”

“But I have realised it is affecting me because I become weak when the drug wears off,” he said, adding that he was hoping to wean himself off.

A few weeks later, he was receiving treatment at the Nkwanta Regional Hospital.

“The process has not been easy, but I know it is the best choice,” he said.

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Crime

LASTMA Apprehends Six Members Of ‘One-Chance’ Syndicate

Published

11 hours ago

October 24, 2025

Oluwagbenga Olaoye

The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) has arrested six suspected members of a notorious “one-chance” syndicate operating beneath the Ijora Bridge corridor in Lagos.

The suspects were apprehended on Thursday, during a joint inter-agency enforcement operation aimed at dismantling illegal garages, shanties, and criminal hideouts around Apapa Road, Costain, and Ijora under bridge.

The operation, led by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Sola Giwa, involved officers from the Nigeria Police Force, Mobile Police (MOPOL), Lagos State Task Force, Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC), and the Nigerian Army.

A statement signed by the Director, Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department of LASTMA, Adebayo Taofiq, said items recovered from the suspects included 77 stolen mobile phones, two POS machines, multiple wristwatches, and other personal belongings believed to have been taken from unsuspecting commuters.

Those arrested have been identified as Adetunji Bashiru (28), Sulaiman Kada (35), Abubakar Bala (42), Abubakar Ahmed (28), Rasaq Gbadamosi (21), and Ibrahim Yakub (23).

Preliminary investigations revealed that the Ijora under-bridge area had long served as a criminal enclave, harbouring miscreants, illegal traders, and “one-chance” syndicates who specialize in attacking and robbing commuters. The area also served as a storage point for stolen items and contraband goods.

“Preliminary investigations have revealed that the Ijora under-bridge axis had long served as a criminal enclave, accommodating miscreants, illegal traders, and “one-chance” syndicates who specialize in orchestrated theft, violent assaults, and dispossession of innocent citizens. The area had also evolved into a clandestine storage hub for stolen valuables and contraband goods,” Adebayo stated.

During the exercise, enforcement officers also confiscated several kegs of adulterated diesel and over 150 packs of expired snacks found under unsanitary conditions.

More than 120 illegal shanties, including those erected along the fence of St. Peter’s Catholic Nursery and Primary School, Apapa Road, were demolished.

Giwa reiterated the Lagos State Government’s commitment to maintaining a safe and habitable environment while warning criminal elements and illegal occupants to vacate public spaces immediately.

He said the operation was part of the Sanwo-Olu administration’s ongoing efforts to ensure a safer, cleaner, and more habitable metropolis.

LASTMA’s General Manager, Olalekan Bakare-Oki, commended the synergy among participating agencies, describing the exercise as a model of inter-agency cooperation.

He emphasised that LASTMA’s role goes beyond traffic management to include ensuring public safety, protecting transport infrastructure, and preventing criminal activities within transport corridors.

The arrested suspects, according to the agency, will be handed over to appropriate law enforcement authorities for further investigation and prosecution.

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Crime

Interpol arrests 11 high-level members of terrorist groups in Nigeria

Published

17 hours ago

October 24, 2025

Oluwagbenga Olaoye

The International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) has arrested 11 suspected high-ranking members of terrorist groups in Nigeria as part of a continent-wide crackdown on terrorism financing and related crimes.

The arrests were made as part of Operation Catalyst, a two-month joint operation conducted by Interpol and the African Union Mechanism for Police Cooperation (AFRIPOL) across six countries: Angola, Cameroon, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, and South Sudan.

In a statement, Interpol said the operation targeted terrorism financing and the illegal activities supporting it, examining more than 15,000 individuals and entities of interest. The operation uncovered $260 million in both fiat and virtual currencies potentially linked to terrorism-related activities, with over $600,000 seized.

“Of the 83 arrests, 21 were for terrorism-related crimes, 28 were for financial fraud and money laundering, 16 were linked to cyber-enabled scams, and a further 18 were related to the illicit use of virtual assets,” the statement said.

In Angola, 25 people of multiple nationalities were detained in connection with informal value transfer systems tied to terrorist financing and money laundering. Authorities seized around $588,000, along with 100 mobile phones, 40 computers, and froze 60 bank accounts.

In Kenya, investigators uncovered a suspected money-laundering network using a virtual asset service provider with potential links to terrorism financing. The operation, valued at about $430,000, led to the arrest of two individuals. In another case, two suspects were detained for allegedly recruiting young people from East and North Africa into terrorist groups through online platforms. Funds for the recruitment were traced through cryptocurrency channels back to individuals in Tanzania.

Interpol said Nigeria’s contribution to the operation resulted in the arrest of 11 suspected terrorists, “including high-level members of several terrorist groups.”

The international police agency also uncovered a major cryptocurrency-based Ponzi scheme operating across 17 countries, including Nigeria, Cameroon, and Kenya. The fraudulent platform posed as a legitimate trading service and defrauded more than 100,000 victims worldwide, resulting in losses estimated at $562 million.

According to Interpol, several large cryptocurrency wallets linked to the scheme are now being investigated for possible connections to terrorism financing. The global investigation remains ongoing.

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Crime

PHOTOS: Murd£r suspect arrested over 40 times before allegedly k!lling hotel guest

Published

17 hours ago

October 24, 2025

Oluwagbenga Olaoye

A man arrested in the US after allegedly murd£ring a 51-year-old man had been arrested over 40 times before, records show.

Ronnie Fewell, 32, sh0t and k!lled Ronald Neville on Oct. 10 at a Motel 6 in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to an arrest affidavit.

Neville was found with several gunsh0t wounds and was pronounced de@d at the scene.

Video obtained by police showed that Fewell was one of three men who forced their way into the motel room, where they were only inside for several seconds, police said.

Detectives said one of the men “quickly” fled the hotel room with a backpack that he didn’t have before.’

Fewell was charged with felony murd£r, robbery with a dangerous weapon and felony conspiracy in relation to the sho0ting.

Officials said he was one of four people allegedly responsible for Neville’s de@th.

The backpack had items valued at $100, according to an arrest warrant.

Fewell was given no bond and was ordered to be detained at the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office.

Court and arrest records reviewed by Fox News Digital show that Fewell has been arrested at least 40 times dating back to 2012.

Fewell had previously been arrested for charges of resisting a public officer, breaking and entering, possession of stolen goods, assault on a female, possession of cocaine, selling cocaine, possession of a firearm by felon, possession of a stolen firearm, robbery, assault on a female, assault with a deadly weapon, and more.

Many of the charges were dismissed by the local state’s attorney and resulted in no jail time, according to court records, but he has served time in prison for several convictions.

Rep. Mark Harris, R-North Carolina, wrote on X he was “disgusted” at the amount of times Fewell has been arrested.

“Another serial criminal who was walking free in Charlotte, NC, has just been arrested for the MURDER of a 51-year-old man,” Harris wrote.