Imported User:
The United States has declared that hard drugs that are being trafficked into the country from Nigerians and other West African nations are directly doing harms to American citizens.
This was made known in a supplementary report that was recently presented to the United States Senate Caucus on International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs by Mr. William R. Brownfield, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.
The US official said that transnational organised crime, including drug trafficking, was a major threat to security and governance in Nigeria and other West African nations, stressing that traffickers are moving drugs, people, small arms, oil, cigarettes, counterfeit medicine, and toxic waste through the region, generating large profits for transnational criminal networks.
“Drug trafficking through West Africa is a problem for Americans and for our foreign policy. But addressing drug trafficking through the region is also an important opportunity,” he noted.
He continued that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has estimated that, together, these illicit activities generate approximately $3.34 billion a year.
According to him, “Cocaine trafficking is one of the most lucrative of these illicit activities. In fact, the U.S. government and the UNODC have estimated that about 13 percent of the global cocaine flow moves through West Africa.”
