INTERPOL Operation FOLOSA - Interview with Sergio NARANJO, UNODC
Channel: INTERPOL
Date: 2015-10-12

An operation targeting drug trafficking from Latin America to Europe via Africa has resulted in the seizure of nearly 170 kilogrammes of drugs worth an estimated EUR 10 million, as well as gold coins and stolen credit cards.

During the European Union (EU)-funded Operation Folosa, which involved 22 countries, law enforcement and customs officials conducted heightened controls on departing, transiting and arriving passengers at international airports on known smuggling routes, including via the Middle East. 

Some 41 people were arrested in possession of drugs including cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana during the operation which ran from 19 to 28 September. In addition to being hidden in luggage, or swallowed by couriers, drugs were also discovered concealed in shoe heels and hair. 

Results confirmed a methamphetamine trafficking route from Nigeria to South Africa, as well as an emerging modus operandi of money swallowers bringing back drug money from Africa to Latin America. The operation also revealed a developing market for European ecstasy in Brazil, and the importance of Sao Paulo airport as a main departure point of cocaine couriers to Africa.

Operation Folosa was led by INTERPOL and supported by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Customs Organization (WCO) and Europol as part of the Airport Communication Project (AIRCOP) funded under the European Union Cocaine Route Programme aimed at fighting illicit trafficking and transnational organized crime.