The Senegalese Directorate of Public Relations (Dirpa) reported Tuesday that the Senegalese navy had intercepted a ship off the coast of Dakar carrying more than 800 kilos of cocaine.
A “high seas patrol boat” of the army was responsible for the Sunday seizure of 805 kg (almost 1,700 pounds) of cocaine, according to a statement from the Dirpa.
The aythority however did not provide abt details on the intercepted ship, its crew, its point of departure, or the value of the cargo.
Senegalese customs had announced in October the seizure of 300 kg of cocaine, worth nearly 37 million euros, in a refrigerated truck from neighboring Mali.
Central and West Africa have for years been a transit zone for drugs produced in Latin America, but according to an annual report of the**United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime** (UNODC) published in June last year the regions are becoming market for narcotics.
“Between 2019 and 2022 […] at least 57 tons of cocaine were seized in or en route to West Africa, mainly in Cape Verde (16.6 tons), Senegal (4.7 tons), Benin (3.9 tons), Côte d’Ivoire (3.5 tons), Gambia (3 tons) and Guinea-Bissau (2.7 tons),” the report read.