West Africa, the New Eldorado for Organised Crime

In West Africa, in recent years, organised crime networks and their complex ramifications have expanded their illicit trafficking operations, focusing on cocaine, synthetic drugs, falsified medicines, protected wildlife species, rare and precious timber resources, cultural goods, human beings, migrants and more. Even the curious trade in donkey skins has not escaped their grasp.
The nature of their criminal activities, their modus operandi, and the routes they follow need to be analysed and understood so that appropriate responses can be developed to dismantle them.
The illegal activities of transnational criminal organisations have shamelessly profited from the collapse of certain West African states, which have become ensnared in the dangerous underworld where criminal entities operate with complete impunity.
Unless bold and decisive measures are taken to loosen the stranglehold of these illegal networks on governments and free African societies from their deadly grip, the financial flows generated by their illegal dealings have the potential to disrupt or even cause the collapse of the regional economy.
The fight against illicit trafficking must therefore be seen as a question of stability and sovereignty, which ought to feature prominently in the public policies of the regional economic community.