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The largest shipments of cocaine shipped from South America to Europe, via West Africa, are increasingly departing "from Venezuela, not from Colombia," although the Colombian traffickers "remain very important in supplying markets around the world," said the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

"Increasingly, large maritime and air shipments of cocaine are departing from Venezuela, not Colombia, particularly those headed east to Europe, via West Africa. Perhaps partly as a result, Colombia's murder rate has been diminishing, while Venezuela now has one of the highest rates in the world," said the report released on Wednesday in the second and final day of the Conference of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Praia (Cape Verde).

"Most cocaine entering West Africa from South America makes landfall around one of two hubs, centered on Guinea-Bissau in the north and Ghana in the south," said the UNODC report.

According to the document, only a few air shipments have been seized, but radar surveillance suggests "a growing number of small planes are leaving Venezuela toward Africa on unscheduled flights." The UNODC claimed that the aircraft involved are often modified for the trans-Atlantic voyage by the inclusion of additional fuel tanks or other modifications to allow in-flight re-fuelling.

"Seizures of these craft have been made in both South America and in Africa. The amounts involved are large, with instances of between 600 kilograms and 700 kg seized." The report estimated that such shipments would be worth about USD 33 million on the European wholesale market. Flights have been detected to Mauritania, Sierra Leone, and Guinea Bissau.

Translated by Gerardo Cárdenas