The customs authorities in Senegal seized an unprecedented amount of cocaine, weighing 1,137.6 kilograms.
The illicit substance, discreetly packaged and hidden within bags, was discovered inside a truck in the town of Kidira, close to Mali's border.
This haul, estimated to be worth about $147.6 million, is Senegal's largest inland cocaine seizure, according to the government.
The authorities also reminded that such big cocaine seizures serve as further evidence of Senegal's determination to use all available legal channels to combat transnational organized crime, particularly drug trafficking.
For example, on March 31, the authorities seized another nearly 92-kg batch of drugs.
Furthermore, last December, the Senegalese Navy confiscated 690 kg of cocaine, and in November, Senegal's military seized nearly three tonnes of cocaine from a ship moored off the coast.
Africa is a major transit hub for cocaine in the west, heroin in the east, and cannabis resin in the north. Cocaine seizures in the Sahel region are rapidly growing (from 13 kg per year between 2015 and 2020 to more than 35 kg in 2021 and 863 kg in 2022), according to the 2023 report by the UNODC.
Furthermore, Africa accounts for half of the pharmaceutical opioids, particularly tramadol, confiscated globally between 2017 and 2021. These opioids are also largely consumed in the region.