Gambia’s Destroys US$1 Billion Worth of Cocaine

The Gambia’s anti-narcotics agency today destroyed the 2 tonnes of cocaine impounded in the West African country back in 2010. The whereabouts of the illicit drugs bound for Europe had been a subject of speculation for the past two years.

But the officials of the country’s anti-narcotics agency say the destruction was delayed due to a lack of equipment.

“This is cocaine, it’s different from cannabis,” Samba Gajaga, the anti-narcotics chief told me. “Burning them in the open can impact [negatively] on the environment. So we were doing ground work to get incinerators which the British High Commission has to provided us.”

Mr Gajaga was speaking at the sidelines of the public drug destruction exercise held at the National Health Laboratory along Bertil Herding highway.

The ritual, the third in two years, was both uncharacteristically festive of a public drug destruction exercise and typically replete with self-congratulatory remarks by Gambian authorities about the country’s commitment to tackling illicit drugs.

The Gambia’s minister for Presidential Affairs, Dr Njogu Bah, spoke on behalf of President Yahya Jammeh.

“We are celebrating today one of the most successful stories emanating in the west African region relating to the global fight against drug trafficking and abuse,” he said.

Displayed and tested and confirmed positive, the 2 tonnes was then reduced to ashes. The event was  witnessed by government officials, foreign diplomats, and the press.

Whether the displayed drugs was the exact quantity was not independently verified at the destruction site. However, an official of the court in whose possession the drugs had been, confirmed to me that it was weighed in his presence.

Meanwhile, the drugs were discovered in a warehouse in Bonto village, about 50kms and an hour's drive from the Gambia’s capital, Banjul. The landmark seizure results from a joint operation by a British intelligence agency, and Gambian forces.

Assault rifles and an undisclosed cash amount of money also seized had been reportedly confiscated to the state. 

Said to be the biggest in the sub-region, the drug bust had sent shock waves across the globe, and obliged Gambian authorities to admit the country’s profile as a drug hub.

Now that drugs has been destroyed, those linked to it – all of them foreign nationals - Europeans, South Americans and West Africans – had been tried and jailed, the questions remains: Who are the local host of this grand scheme of illicit trade, which many believe, would be impossible to exist without local backers?