The UN says al-Qaeda plots to smuggle 80 tons of cocaine via the Sahel to Europe

The UN has warned of the smuggling of 80 tons of cocaine thid year from westrn Africa to Europe, via the Sahel region, by elements pertaining to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Legal Advisor at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Manuel Di Almeida Pereira, said the narcotic trafficking has multiplied in the African Sahel region since 2006 with the close involvement of AQIM. 

The UN official has indicated that a load of 80 tons of cocaine, worth $1.2 billion, is likely to be smuggled from Western Africa region to Europe, this year. He has specified that the majority of this load has been smuggled on air from Latin America and Afghanistan, to Europe via the Middle East and Western Africa, with involvement of narcotic gangs pertaining to AQIM.

It is worth to mention that Algeria has already warned of the “new partnership” between terrorists and narcotic traffickers, exploiting the chaos that the region is involved in to make more profit, in addition to the kidnapping operations to claim ransoms.