Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
मनोहर पर्रिकर रक्षा अध्ययन एवं विश्लेषण संस्थान

Cocaine trafficking between Latin America and West Africa

Sanjay Badri-Maharaj
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Cover Story

Separated by the Atlantic Ocean, it would appear that West Africa and Latin America would make for an unlikely nexus in the cocaine trade. Yet, as cocaine consumption in the United States has remained relatively constant, demand for the drug in Europe has started to grow considerably. West Africa has thus become an integral part of the drug cartels’ network supplying the European market. The link between narcotics’ traffickers in Latin America and their allies in West Africa has opened another front in the “war on drugs” and has unfortunately led to West Africa becoming home to what has been described as the “world’s first narco state” namely, Guinea-Bissau.1 The availability of aircraft, pilots and an expanse of airspace without radar coverage, aided and abetted by poorly or corruptly policed borders has led to a thriving trade between the two continents for the enrichment of some and the detriment of many others. Cocaine consumption in Europe more than doubled between the years 1998 and 2009, with particularly sharp rises being recorded in the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy which comprise a staggering 60 per cent of all cocaine users in Europe.2 Indeed, the volume and value of cocaine trafficked to Western and Central Europe now rivals that sent to the United States.3 To satisfy this demand, the drug cartels of Latin America have forged alliances with organized crime outfits in West Africa to facilitate the smuggling of drugs into Europe. There has also been a constant revision of tactics by the narco-traffickers, switching from large-scale marine transport to the use of second-hand commercial aircraft to get cocaine from Latin America to West Africa.4 There has been a further shift in tactics in getting the drugs from West Africa into Europe with a move towards using the traditional cannabis resin smuggling routes from North Africa to Europe with cocaine being transported in convoys across the Sahara desert. This marks a change from the previously most common route of using “mules” on commercial flights between West Africa and Europe.5The source of the trade

While shipment of cocaine into Europe from Latin America has been happening since the trade in the drug began, the increasing efficacy of interdiction efforts on the part of the United States made the drug cartels look to Europe for a less risky market. Indeed, the Mexican narcotics cartel the Zetas, having been severely impacted by enhanced US border security, has obtained control of a lucrative smuggling route from West Africa to Europe.6 Colombian cartels, traditionally the largest suppliers to Europe, while still powerful, are losing ground to the Mexicans.7

Colombia has long dominated the cocaine trade and is still the main source of supply to Europe, transshipped through Venezuela or Brazil. However, Colombian cartels suffered a severe blow when the dominant figure in their supply channels to Europe – Daniel Barrera (aka El Loco) – was arrested in Venezuela on September 18, 2012 after a prolonged joint effort between the security forces and intelligence agencies of Colombia, Venezuela, the UK and the UK.8 He was subsequently deported to and convicted in the United States.

Off late, Venezuela and Brazil, are beginning to emerge as the major places of embarkation for narcotics bound for the West Africa-Europe route. The surge began in 2004 with seizures of 46 metric tonnes of cocaine being reported between 2005 and 2008.9 This coincides with a decision of the Venezuelan government in 2005 to suspend cooperation with the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).10 This has led to an upsurge in cocaine trafficking out of Venezuela where corrupt law enforcement and military personnel, porous borders with Colombia and apparent government indifference have contributed to this trend. In Brazil, the combination of porous borders with three major cocaine producing countries (Bolivia, Colombia and Peru) and a poorly patrolled coastline are combined with a thriving legitimate trade with West Africa thus facilitating the smuggling of cocaine by subterfuge, corruption or coercion of legal traders.11 South Africa has emerged as one of several preferred transshipment points for cocaine emanating from Brazil, taking its place alongside such nations as Angola, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau.12 It should be noted that South Africa has also become a preferred route for Afghan heroin.13Methods of shipment

Transport of cocaine between Latin America and Africa was traditionally via sea in container ships or in private yachts. The potential to ship large quantities of cocaine through this method made the maritime route the preferred method of transit.14 However, as interdiction efforts at sea have become more effective, the cocaine smugglers have switched tactics to using second-hand cargo aircraft to deliver cocaine to their West-African confederates.15

A wide range of used aircraft, available for as little as US$275,000 for a four-engined DC-8 jet can be obtained and there is no shortage of pilots willing to undertake these flights.16 As the airspace between Latin America and West-Africa is almost completely bereft of radar cover and national radar networks in most of West Africa are patchy at best, it is relatively simple for narco-flights to evade detection. In one publicised incident, for example, a Boeing 727 was set alight after it failed to take-off and was abandoned following a delivery, at a makeshift airfield, of cocaine from Venezuela to Gao in Mali.17

After arriving in West Africa, the traffickers have an elaborate network of convoys which collect the cocaine from the delivery points and thereafter move them overland to be smuggled into Europe.18 The connivance of local officials and senior law enforcement and military personnel is suspected, and in one high profile example, the former commanding officer of the Guinea-Bissau navy, Rear Admiral José Américo Bubo Na Tchuto was arrested in a sting operation that revolved around the smuggling of cocaine into Guinea-Bissau and arms to insurgents in Colombia.19 Using old smuggling routes, paths from places such as Ghana, Mali and Niger, are used to cross the Sahara into North Africa from where, by air and sea, the cocaine finds its way into Southern Europe.20The Impact

Besides the inevitable social consequences that flow from the use and abuse of cocaine, and the criminalisation that comes with the enterprise of smuggling narcotics, the cocaine trade has been used to fund terrorism both in Africa and Latin America. El Loco, for example, was reputed to have links to two major Colombian paramilitary/ terrorist groups: the Popular Anti-Terrorist Army of Colombia (Ejercito Revolucionario Popular Anti-terrorista de Colombia – ERPAC) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia FARC) with the latter using proceeds from the cocaine trade to fund its insurgency against the Colombian government.21 Similarly, in West Africa, terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJWA), have “taxed” the narcotics trade to obtain funding for their movements.22

Within West Africa, the corrosive effects of the cocaine trade have and will continue to have a deleterious effect upon the weak structures of governance in the region. The subversion by corruption of law enforcement and military personnel has already taken place in many countries but in the cases of Guinea-Bissau and Guinea-Conakry, the ease at which international narco-trafficking groups were able to create strong relationships with the ruling elites of both countries, turning Guinea-Bissau into the world’s first narco-state.23 Even stronger states may find themselves hard-pressed to prevent subversion should they not take effective action against the criminal networks.

Conclusion

The cocaine trade between Latin America and West Africa is driven by the growing demand for the drug in Europe and the relative lack of effective interdiction efforts to halt flow of drugs to West Africa. The availability of aircraft and pilots and the absence of adequate air traffic monitoring make the route particularly attractive for the narco-traffickers. This has been made possible by an unfortunate combination of weakened cooperation between the Venezuelan government and the DEA, weak structures of governance in many West African countries and the susceptibility to corruption of government, military and law-enforcement officials on both sides of the Atlantic. There is no easy or quick solution to this situation – as evidenced by the continuing “war on drugs” in the Americas. Nonetheless, steps need to be taken to enhance cooperation and coordination between the national and international agencies tasked with combating the trade and also to plug, where possible, loopholes in the surveillance systems that might aid interdiction efforts. However, no efforts can succeed unless there is a willingness to address the shortcomings in governing institutions and governance that make it relatively easy for the criminal nexus to operate. Needless to say efforts must also be made to curb demand for cocaine in Europe – a task which does not seem to be being addressed with sufficient determination.

Dr. Sanjay Badri-Mharaj is a Trinidad-based Barrister and Attorney at Law, and Visiting Fellow, IDSA.

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