Cape Verde
 Cape Verde    | |
|---|---|
| File:Location Cape Verde AU Africa.svg | |
 | |
| Formation | 5 July 1975 |
| Location | West Africa, Africa |
| Type | nation state |
| Member of | African Union, International Criminal Court, La Francophonie, Organisation of African Unity, UN |
| African island nation. Independence from Portugal in 1975. | |
Cape Verde is a small island nation off West Africa. Its location makes it an ideal hub for illegal cocaine smuggling from South America to Europe.
Cocaine transshipment
"By the 1990s, Cape Verde had become a hub for fast-growing narcotics traffic, echoing its past importance as a trans-Atlantic staging post for the slave trade, ocean-going steamers and early commercial aviation. Its jagged coastlines and 300,000 square-mile maritime zone resemble a smugglers’ paradise."[1]
2019 Cape Verde Drug bust
In 2019, 11 Russian sailors were arrested after Cape Verde police found 9.5[2][3][4] or 9.6[5] tons of cocaine after their Panama-flagged vessel docked at the port of Praia for legal reasons following the death of a crew member.[6]
This is reported to have an estimated value of $720 million, or the equivalent of 41 percent of Cape Verde’s annual GDP.[5]
References
- ↑ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-capeverde-drugtrafficking-idUSKBN0TJ0YP20151130
- ↑ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6658191/Cape-Verde-seizes-record-cocaine-haul-Russian-ship.html
- ↑ https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-capeverde-drugs/cape-verde-seizes-record-cocaine-haul-from-russian-ship-idUKKCN1PQ59B
- ↑ https://www.dw.com/en/cape-verde-seizes-95-tons-of-cocaine-russian-sailors-arrested/a-47335072
- ↑ a b https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-13/record-cocaine-busts-mark-west-africa-s-comeback-as-transit-hub
- ↑ https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-sailors-arrested-alleged-cocaine-seizure-cape-verde-africa/29747197.html
