“The U.N. drugs and crime chief said Wednesday that his office is registering ‘new, alarming trends’ in drug trafficking in western and central Africa that are destabilizing the ability of country’s to govern as well as security, economic growth and public health. Yuri Fedotov told the Security Council that criminal networks have expanded their activities from transporting cocaine and heroin through Africa to Europe and other destinations and are now engaged in opioid trafficking. He said the 2018 report from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, which he heads, shows that 87 percent of pharmaceutical opioids seized globally came from western and central Africa along with northern Africa. ‘This is largely due to rising use of tramadol, an opioid painkiller that is widely trafficked for non-medical use in the region,’ Fedotov said. He also said Africa and Asia saw the largest rise in cocaine seizures, ‘suggesting that cocaine trafficking and consumption have spread to these markets.’”
Source: UN Reports ‘Alarming’ Trends in Drug Trafficking in Africa
