After many years on the periphery of transnational crime, Africa has become a global hub and destination point for trafficking in drugs, natural resources and weapons.
Porous borders, underfunded law enforcement, government corruption and chronic instability have contributed to Africa’s increasing prominence in global transnational crime, according to researchers with the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC).
In the Africa Organised Crime Index 2025, GI-TOC researchers studied changes in a mix of crimes between 2019 and 2025. Within that period, they determined: “Africa has become deeply embedded in the global criminal economy, serving as a source, transit hub and destination for various criminal markets — often in overlapping roles.”
Drug trafficking: Africa’s position between cocaine producers in South America and heroin and methamphetamine producers in southwestern Asia has made it a key transit point for traffickers moving drugs into Europe. Ports in West African countries such as Cabo Verde, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal have become favorites among traffickers who hide cocaine in shipping containers, fishing vessels and yachts. From there, drugs are transported across the Sahel to North Africa and onward to markets in Europe or distributed to users within Africa.
East Africa has become a crucial stop for heroin and synthetic drugs as eastern European governments have increased interdiction operations through traditional Balkan routes. Following the so-called Southern Route, traffickers bring their drugs into Africa through Indian Ocean ports in Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania.
Countries across the continent have stepped up interdiction. In 2024 alone, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal intercepted nearly 4.5 metric tons of cocaine entering their countries. Morocco intercepted another 1.5 metric tons that same year.
“Law enforcement only intercepts a fraction of trafficked drugs, and so these seizures may not reflect actual trade volumes, but instead indicate improved law enforcement and international cooperation,” GI-TOC researchers reported.
Natural resource trafficking: This broad category includes everything from the illicit wildlife trade to gold smuggling. In 2025, resource crimes ranked third after financial crimes and human trafficking as Africa’s most pervasive criminal markets. Between 2015 and 2021, African nations accounted for 19% of the world’s illegal wildlife trafficking, with a focus on elephants, pangolins, rhinoceroses, crocodiles and parrots. Much of the trafficking was aimed at meeting Asian market demand.
Along with the illegal animal and animal parts trade, the illicit trade in plants — particularly rosewood shipped to China — costs African nations a collective $17 billion a year and irreparably harms communities and the environment, according to the GI-TOC report.
“Forests are being destroyed as a result of protracted conflict,” researchers wrote, “and the activities of industrial logging companies, which routinely break forestry laws, ignore harvesting quotas, rename tree species in export documentation and bribe officials.”
Gold smugglers ship tens of billions of dollars out of African nations every year, denying them vital tax revenue that could be used to improve the lives of their citizens. At the same time, gold smuggling underpins ongoing conflicts, such as Sudan’s civil war.
Weapons trafficking: West African coups and chronic instability in the Horn of Africa continue to fuel a rigorous illicit weapons trade, much of which includes small arms. With high-profile conflicts roiling Somalia and Sudan, East Africa leads the continent and the world in weapons trafficking, according to GI-TOC. The United Nations estimated that African nations have as many as 40 million illegal weapons in circulation. Between 3 million and 5 million of those likely are in civilian hands in Sudan, according to analysts. GI-TOC found one bright spot: The lifting of the international arms embargo on Somalia did not set off an anticipated arms race there.
Overall, GI-TOC researchers wrote, transnational criminal organizations benefit from conflict and instability, which drive demand for drugs, resources and weapons to the detriment of African nations.
“Conflicts erode state control and create fertile ground for criminal activities, which in turn weaken governance, distort legitimate market systems and undermine respect for the rule of law,” GI-TOC researchers wrote.