Four Nigerians arrested for drug trafficking in Venezuela
鈥� 听researches, analyzes, and investigates organized crime in the Americas. Find all of Elyssa Pachico鈥檚 work .
Venezuela arrested a group of suspected cocaine traffickers, among them four Nigerians, further illustration of the importance of drug smuggling routes from South America to West Africa, and then onto Europe.
痴别苍别锄耻别濒补鈥檚 National Guard and anti-narcotics police reported detaining the six suspects during two separate operations, . The detainees were found smuggling cocaine on public transport, traveling from the city of Maturin to the eastern state of Delta Amacuro. This region is well known as a departure point for illegal flights heading across the Atlantic, as well as ships.
, including some 27 tons of cocaine.听
InSight Crime Analysis听
United States officials have said that Colombian and Venezuelan drug traffickers听are increasingly reliant on smuggling routes that move drug shipments to Europe via West Africa. In 2010, the Drug Enforcement Administration鈥檚 (DEA) Andean regional director, . In an apparent acknowledgement of the problem, last year , agreeing to cooperate in the fight against drug trafficking.听
Nigeria, West Africa鈥檚 largest country, is an important transhipment hub for both cocaine and methamphetamine. One indication of the increased involvement of South American criminal organizations in trafficking narcotics to Nigeria came last year, when Argentine on a cargo plane bound for Nigeria. In another troubling sign of the growth of the South America-Nigeria connection, between 2011 and 2012 Nigerian officials reported discovering two methamphetamine production laboratories inside the country, as well as arresting several Bolivian nationals in connection to one lab.
Other countries in South America have also reported increased evidence of drug trafficking ties with parts of Africa. Last year Brazil made several large arrests involving traffickers attempting to .听
By some estimates, .
鈥�听听听researches, analyzes, and investigates organized crime in the Americas. Find all of Elyssa Pachico鈥檚 work .
