Interpol busts €100M in drugs across Africa, Middle East

By Felix Tih

ANKARA (AA) - Interpol has seized an estimated €100 million ($121 million) worth of drugs in operations across Africa and the Middle East, it said in a statement on Monday.

The Lionfish operations, which took place in March and April, mobilized law enforcement in 41 countries to arrest 287 individuals and seize illicit narcotics.

It saw police and customs officials coordinate enforcement actions at international borders and other hotspots over a two-week period, first on the African continent and then in the Middle East and North Africa region.

"The striking results of these two operations demonstrate the sheer scale of the trade in illicit drugs and its international nature," said Jurgen Stock, Interpol secretary-general.

"Drug trafficking is a threat that we collectively face and the massive seizures achieved in Operation Lionfish show what is possible when law enforcement fights back together," Stock added.

Brigadier General Adel Abulkasem Al Sharwy Bentaleb, head of Libya's Interpol National Central Bureau said: "We are seeing a marked increase in drug traffickers using Libya as a transshipment point, including for drugs from as far as South America."

He said many of the drugs were neither produced nor consumed in his country. "This has not spared us from the violent crime inevitably wrought by such activity."

"Drug trafficking most often is the causal factors to so much of the violent crimes plaguing our societies," said General Khehla Sitole, National Police Commissioner of South Africa.

"I don't believe that there is any country in this world that is immune to drugs and this is what makes our collaborative effort even more critical to overcoming this scourge," Sitole added.