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An operation to combat arms trafficking networks taking place in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire led to the acquisition of tens of thousands of explosives, but also a large amount of dirty fuel, Interpol and the UN announced on Monday.
The 260 men and women in the operation called KAFO deployed from November 30 to December 6 at the airports, ports and land borders of four West African countries, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast. The results of the seizure show more than 40,000 sticks of dynamite and detonators intended for secret mining activities, a new financing channel for terrorist organizations, according to Interpol.
Investigators also got their hands on it on weapons and thousands of ammunition, but also on 60,000 liters of smuggled fuel in Mali and Niger. This fuel from Nigeria is suspected for refueling al-Qaeda’s network.
As this is the primary goal of KAFO, which means “acting together” in Dioula and Bambara: fight terrorism. It is in this context that the investigators targeted arms dealers who are suspected of having participated in the financing of terrorist organizations.
All these seizures made it possible to initiate several investigations to prosecute the people arrested during the operation, but also to trace the supply chains.
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