PARIS (Reuters) – Forty-five people have been arrested in west Africa over the past three months in operations targeting drugs trafficking and the financing of terrorism, said global police body Interpol on Thursday.
Interpol, headquartered in France, said those arrested included a suspected Islamic State member at the borders between Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, and a North African suspected of aiming to travel through Europe to join ISIS in Syria.
Cocaine worth more than $50 million was also seized in Cabo Verde, as well as 10 tonnes of amphetamines in Burkina Faso, added the police body.
“This operation marks a critical step in disrupting transnational organised crime networks that threaten regional stability and undermine efforts to build peace and foster development across West Africa,” said Mohamed Moussa from Interpol.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Michael Perry)
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