Niger seizes 5.7 tons of Moroccan resin in transit
Five seizures in Niger in the 2006–2007 period netted a total of 5.7 tons of cannabis resin moving along the newly identified trans-Saharan route from Morocco through Mauritania, Mali and Niger toward Chad and on into Egypt or Sudan.[@1] The seizures made Niger the most visible interception point on that route.[@1]
🇳🇪 Niger
In 2006–2007 Niger became the most visible interception point on a newly identified drug highway. Five seizures in the country netted a total of 5.7 tons of cannabis resin moving along the trans-Saharan route from Morocco through Mauritania and Mali, across Niger toward Chad and on into Egypt or Sudan.[1]
The route was new and the volumes were industrial: Moroccan resin crossing the Sahara by land, with Niger — a country with almost no domestic resin market — as the corridor.[1] The seizures put the corridor on the map for enforcement across the region, linking Niger’s statistics to a supply chain that starts in the Rif and ends in Cairo or Khartoum.[1]
Two decades on, Niger still reports resin alongside herbal cannabis in its seizure figures, a trace of the transit trade the 2006–2007 interceptions first exposed.
Sources
- Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 2007 (E/INCB/2007/1). United Nations, 2008.