Venezuelan drugs Boeing crashed in Mali

In July Guinea security forces discovered large quantities of chemicals used to produce heroin from opium, cocaine and ecstasy.

A Boeing plane being used to transport cocaine from Venezuela to West Africa crashed in Mali earlier this month after a failed take-off, the representative of the UN's drugs and crime office said Monday.

It is the first time the United Nations has heard of a plane of this size -- although they did not know what model it was -- being used to smuggle drugs from South America to Africa.

- A Boeing coming from Venezuela landed on a makeshift landing strip some 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Gao (in the northwest) and unloaded cocaine and other illegal substances - Alexandre Schmidt of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) told journalists in Dakar.

- The plane wanted to take off but crashed on November 5th - he added.

In recent years West Africa has become an important transit point for South American cocaine being smuggled to European markets and according to Schmidt there are also signs that the region is now moving into producing drugs.

As for the Boeing it is not clear how much cocaine was on board but Schmidt explained a Boeing could carry at least 10 tonnes of cocaine.

The drugs have not yet been recovered and the international police organisation Interpol is carrying out an investigation.

- This is the first time as far as we know - that South American drugs lords have used a plane of such capacity, rented for the occasion, to smuggle cocaine to Africa, he added.

- We don't know how long it has been going on, we cannot say whether it is the first or the last flight of this type. It could be considered a new modus operandi and that is worrying. -

Another worrying trend is West Africa's move from transit region to production region.

In July Guinea security forces discovered large quantities of chemicals used to produce heroin from opium, cocaine and ecstasy, Schmidt said.

According to the UNODC the opium comes from "Nigerian groups based in Pakistan."

For the last few years, drugs traffic in West Africa has been dominated by the Colombian cartels who transport their wares, mostly cocaine, via Venezuela to the African coast.

- Today however, there are more and more Nigerian groups that set out for Brazil, Sao Paulo, to buy drugs to transport to Europe through the Nigerian diaspora - Schmidt explained.

These new Nigerian buyers are thus in direct competition with the Colombian cartels and the UNODC says the region can expect - violence to break out between the cartels and the Nigerians - in future.