The UN agency that fights drugs and crime estimated that cocaine trafficking is generating some $900 million annually in West and Central Africa as South American cartels use the shortest route to transport drugs to Europe.

The Drug Enforcement Agency or DEA says it needs US$6 million to fight drug traffickers and users. The agency has warned that Liberia could be like Guinea Bassau if the authorities do not take an aggressive approach in fighting the dangerous trade the region.

Top West African officials are calling for greater United Nations and international support to prevent the region’s coasts from becoming a haven for pirates and to fight growing drug and arms trafficking

Anti-narcotic police in Tanzania Wednesday arrested five suspected drug dealers with 97kg of heroin worth $2.6 million

Although Guinea-Bissau has become more stable and made economic reforms, the UN Security Council is still concerned at persisting transnational organized crimes which threaten peace and security, said Nelson Messone, the council's president for the month of June

The drugs trade in West Africa is going the way of Mexico, with local players increasingly taking control of an ever more sophisticated system to smuggle cocaine into the rich market to the north, the UN said

The amount of cocaine trafficked through West Africa has been declining steadily over the past four years, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Police in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa said they seized 196 kg (432 lb) of heroin valued at about $5 million and arrested six people in the latest step by authorities to end drug trafficking in the country

Mozambicans see Mohamed Bachir Suleman's glitzy shopping mall as a symbol of a modern future for their impoverished country. Suleman throws Christmas parties for the poor and gives liberally to the long-ruling party

One hundred kilograms of cocaine worth an estimated N1.1 billion was seized at the Lagos ports on Friday last week by the Presidential Joint Task Force set up by the Federal Government to ensure 100 percent physical examination of cargoes coming into the country, it was revealed yesterday.