What may appear as ordinary shipments of cocoa husks leaving West African ports often conceal a far more illicit trade.
Recent investigations have revealed how criminal syndicates from the Western Balkans have entrenched themselves in the region, transforming West Africa into a major hub for cocaine trafficking to Europe and beyond.
According to balkaninsight.com, since 2019, criminal groups originating from the Western Balkans have increasingly turned to West Africa as a key transit route for cocaine trafficking. What began as a sporadic trafficking point, such as in 2014 when cocaine was shipped via small boats from northeast Brazil to Cape Verde, has evolved into a cocaine hub for Europe and beyond. This ongoing shift has largely gone unnoticed.
A report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, GI-TOC, to which I contributed, reveals that Slavic and Albanian-speaking groups, traditionally based at key points in the cocaine supply chain [South America and Europe], are now extending their reach to target the vulnerable coastlines of West Africa.
