INTERPOL and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), frontline officers targeted firearms smuggling hotspots at airports, seaports, and land borders in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Niger. (credit: interpol.int)

DIPLOMATIC  TIMES  STAFF

A seven-day operation coordinated jointly by INTERPOL and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) saw law enforcement officers intercept illicit firearms, ammunition and explosives, and disrupt the trafficking networks used to supply terrorists across West Africa and the Sahel.  Under Operation KAFO II.   INTERPOL and UNODC frontline officers (30 November – 6 December) targeted smuggling hotspots at airports, seaports, and land borders in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Niger.  The Operation mobilized 260 officers from police, gendarmerie, national commissions for the control of small arms and light weapons, customs and anti-trafficking airport units, and border and prosecution services in all four countries.Officers checked more than 12,000 individuals, vehicles, containers and goods against international criminal databases, and carried out physical searches, to determine if suspects were using stolen travel documents, were known to police in any of INTERPOL’s 194 member countries, or were travelling in a stolen vehicle.

“Trafficking in firearms is a lucrative business which, in turn, fuels and funds other types of serious crimes. Operation KAFO II shows the need to connect the dots between crime cases involving firearms and terrorists across different countries.”

-INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock

As well as arresting a number of suspected terrorists, officers seized firearms and a range of illicit goods:

• 50 firearms
• 40,593 sticks of dynamite
• 28 detonator cords
• 6,162 rounds of ammunition
• 1,473 kilos of drugs (cannabis and khat)
• 2,263 boxes of contraband drugs
• 60,000 litres of contraband fuel

New Tends in Terrorist Financing -Illegal Gold Mining 

More than 40,000 sticks of dynamite were seized that was intended for illegal gold mining (interpol.int)

New trends observed in this second edition of the KAFO operation included the seizure of contraband gasoline in large quantities in Niger and Mali, according to INTERPOL. It is believed the fuel came from Nigeria, and was trafficked to both finance and supply Al-Qaeda and its affiliates.  Given that firearms trafficking is often associated with other forms of contraband, Operation KAFO II also focused on disrupting the flow of other types of illicit goods used to finance criminal and terrorist activities in the region, according to INTERPOL.  More than 40,000 sticks of dynamite and detonator cords were seized across several places, all intended for illegal gold mining which constitutes a new source of financing, and even a recruiting ground, for armed terrorist groups in the Sahel.

Officers were trained on how to use INTERPOL’s illicit Arms Records and tracing Management System (iARMS) to detect, identify and trace illicit firearms. (interpol.int) 

Finally, against the backdrop of the current COVID-19 health crisis, officers also seized large quantities of contraband hand sanitizer gels, gloves and drugs, for which the market is flourishing, INTERPOL said.  Operation KAFO II was made possible with the support from Germany, France, Italy, and the European Union.  Pre-operational training delivered jointly by INTERPOL and UNODC ensured that officers had the skills required to use INTERPOL’s operational capabilities to their full potential. Officers were trained on how to use INTERPOL’s illicit Arms Records and tracing Management System (iARMS) to detect, identify and trace illicit firearms.

Using iARMS, several hundred firearms recovered in the four countries over the past year were identified and traced back to the countries of manufacture or last known legal import to track their history of ownership and movements. By collecting this investigative crime intelligence ahead of the operation, participating countries were better able to target firearms trafficking suspects, networks and hotspots.