Cocaine: The West African Connection

1. Cocaine: The West African Connection 4th Annual Illicit Networks Workshop Vancouver, Canada 1 October 2012 Dr Simon Sneddon Division of Law University of Northampton

2. Contents • Introduction • South America to West Africa • Guinea Bissau • West Africa to Europe • Emerging Criminal Networks • Summary

3. Introduction • Cocaine trade worth billions of dollars • 60-100,000 families involved • Source Country: • Increased violence (Mexico, Colombia) • Increased policing costs • Decreased legitimate productivity • Destination Country: • Increased policing costs (drugs linked to 56% of crime) • Increased health costs (e.g. triple costs of cocaine mothers)

4. Introduction • Transit Countries: • Much of West Africa is poor and unstable • Est US$18bn of cocaine transiting annually (combined GDP of Guinea Bissau, the Gambia, Mauritania, Liberia and Guinea is US$12bn) • UNODC – 2.3m cocaine users (up by 280% on 2008) • Mexico saw shift in payment from cash to cocaine – is the same happening in W Africa?

5. South America to West Africa • Colombia, Peru and Bolivia grow almost all global cocaine • Medellínand Cali Cartels in Colombia ruled in ‘80s and ‘90s but collapsed • Links to paramilitary groups – FARC • West African seizures still tiny in comparison to rest of world (S, C & N America account for 85%+) • Interpol (2010): • “Smugglers have begun using this route since there is still a lack of drug awareness training for regional law enforcement officials; moreover, they do not possess the resources to control the vast number of shipments transiting through West African seaports.”

6. South America to West Africa

7. South America to West Africa - AIR • Commercial Flights – Mules / freight • Small scale – traffickers may tip off authorities about their own shipments as a distraction • Post 9/11 airport security is getting better (not everywhere) • Private Flights • No radar coverage in Atlantic, transponders can be removed • Small jets – Gulfstream type • Larger – Boeing 727-22 in Mali in 2009

8. South America to West Africa - SEA • Slower, less risky (thus cheaper) than flight • “Highway 10” - 10°N route is popular • Bulk shipments from S America met by smaller ships from Europe / W Africa. • Canalised (dealt with by Navies) v uncanalised (MAOC-N) • 2006 (UNODC): • Royal Navy and Armada Española (Spanish Navy) seized almost 10mt of cocaine in the whole of 2006, and “all the seizures took place in international waters close to the West African coasts.”

9. Guinea Bissau • 1.4m people, GNI US$994 (UN, 2011) • Independent from Portugal in 1974, Portuguese still major language. • 1974. Independence. Luis Cabral, President • 1980. Coup. Cabral replaced by JoãoBernardo ‘Nino’ Vieira • 1998. Coup. Interim government • 2000. KumbaIalá elected President • 2003. Coup. Ialáreplaced by Vieira (2005). • 2009. Coup. Vieira assassinated. MalamBacaiSanhá elected • 2012. Sanhádies. Election interrupted by coup.

10. Guinea Bissau • Linked to cocaine: • Ex-Navy Chief of Staff, Admiral Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto* • Current Air Force Chief of Staff, Brigadier General Ibraima Papa Camara* • Deceased Army Chief of Staff, General Batista Tagme Na Waie • Late President Vieira • Council on Foreign Relations suggests (2012) that: • “criminal organizations are inherently attracted to states or regions where there are market opportunities, governance is limited, institutions are weak, corruption is pervasive and rule of law is absent or limited in scope.” • This is Guinea Bissau.

11. Guinea Bissau

12. West Africa to Europe • EU is 2nd largest cocaine market (Europol) • EMCDDA: • Seizures falling • Production falling • Consumption remaining high • Price declining • Contradictory data?

13. West Africa to Europe: AIR • 2011 (Europol) • “there has been a noted rise in the use of light aircraft for trafficking drugs into the EU (e.g. from North and West Africa)” • 2011 (CSS) • “A key facilitator for this rise in the use of light aircraft for trafficking is the lack of monitoring and sanctions vis–à–vis the significant volume in light aircraft traffic that impacts on hundreds of small airstrips across the EU” • 2009 (UNSC) • “a decline in seizures of narcotics at European airports on flights originating in West Africa.”

14. West Africa to Europe: SEA • 9 miles between N Africa and EU • “Go Fast” boats manage 80 knots • Little evidence of semi-submersible use in Mediterranean but “more likely than not” that it will start to happen • “We are not talking about military vessels here, but rather smaller ones which can be bought freely on the international market by anybody who has a couple of million dollars to spare”

15. Emerging Criminal Networks • Hauschild(2011) • “the criminal organizations controlling cocaine trafficking are made up of an array of criminals from across the globe, and that purely national networks are very rare.” • SOCA (2009) • “an emerging trafficking network run by West African crime groups who exploit traditional links between the UK, Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone” • AFP (2009) • “West African criminal syndicates are seducing Singaporean women via social networking websites to turn them into drug mules”

16. Emerging Criminal Networks • Ngamkham (2011) (Thai Narcotics Suppression Bureau) • “Thai women are being lured into marriage to Africans so they can work as drug mules for African drug gangs” • US DEA (2012) • “Colombian and Venezuelan traffickers are entrenched in West Africa and have cultivated long-standing relationships with African criminal networks” • Commonality of language – Portuguese and Spanish • Opportunity of poverty – pay everyone in G-B a year’s salary costs US$1.3bn – 10% of cocaine profits.

17. Summary • FUNDING • For W African law enforcement & capacity building • Reduced flow of cocaine lessens costs in destination countries? • COOPERATION & COORDINATION • EU Stockholm Programme • MAOC-N • Project Avia

18. Summary • INFORMATION SHARING & TRAINING • Interpol: Lack of drug awareness training hampers regional law enforcement officers • Counter-corruption training • UNDERSTANDING THE NETWORKS • Convictions of South Africans in Senegal • Conviction of Valencia-Arbelaezin USA • Sierra Leone-bound Cessna seized in Venezuela • Venezuelan-origin Cessna seized in Mauritania • 727 in Mali – Saudi registered, Venezuelan-leased, Nigerian-crewed

19. Final Word • O’Regan (2010) • “Address the problem vigorously now. The threats... are daunting, but they will be much harder to reverse if left unchecked.”