In late September, the French Navy made a shocking discovery — nearly 10 tons of cocaine worth over $610 million hidden aboard an unregistered fishing vessel in the Gulf of Guinea. Just weeks earlier, another six tons valued at $375 million had been seized in the same region. These back-to-back busts reveal a harsh truth: West Africa has become the world’s new cocaine gateway.
Once seen only as a transit route, West Africa is now a key re-export hub linking Latin American cartels with European drug markets. Since 2019, Balkan crime networks, especially the Kavač and Škaljari clans from Montenegro, have established deep roots in the region — using African ports to store, repackage, and ship tons of cocaine.
According to the 2023 Global Organized Crime Index, cocaine trafficking is now the fastest-growing criminal activity in West Africa. Analysts from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) say Balkan gangs have infiltrated African ports through bribery and corruption, turning weak institutions into profitable gateways for smuggling.
“These networks use local brokers to secure access, protection, and movement,” says Sasa Djordjevic, a senior GI-TOC expert. “Their flexibility makes them extremely hard to track and dismantle.”
The consequences for African societies are becoming severe. Cocaine once passed through the region — now it’s staying. Local consumption has surged as prices drop: in Guinea-Bissau, a gram of cocaine fell from $20 in 2022 to $14 in 2024; in Ghana, prices dropped by 60% in just four years. This affordability is fueling addiction, health crises, and organized crime, putting new pressure on already strained governments.
Experts warn that the profits from drug trafficking are financing terrorist networks across the Sahel and coastal states. “Cocaine has become a new currency of conflict,” says Ana Aguilera from the International Terrorism Observatory. “Extremist groups use smuggling routes to trade weapons, move fighters, and expand their influence.”
Today, Balkan traffickers boast contacts in Benin, Ghana, South Africa, and Zambia, controlling major maritime routes and laundering millions through African banks and real-estate fronts. The risk is that West Africa could soon evolve from a transit corridor into a safe haven for global cartels.
The GI-TOC urges urgent action:
1. Joint African-European enforcement partnerships targeting cartels and intermediaries.
2. Tighter port and maritime surveillance to block incoming shipments.
3. Regional intelligence-sharing to trace drug flows.
4. Financial investigations to cut off money laundering networks.
Unless swift action is taken, experts warn, West Africa may become the beating heart of the world’s cocaine economy — a transformation with devastating consequences for security, governance, and public health across the continent.
