the United States.
6 But it is now also
a major source of smuggled goods—
an estimated $800 million worth—
for the entire region.
7
The Terrorist Threat
Other consequences of the transAtlantic drug trade are less noticeable.
Brazilian authorities claim that the
huge revenues from illicit drug trafficking are triggering an underground
arms smuggling trade. In addition, increasing illicit commerce with Africa
may increase Brazil’s vulnerability to
terrorist networks.
After years of conjecture, there is
now strong evidence linking drug
traffickers and terrorist organizations.
8 Since the majority of drugs
leaving South America for Europe
exit Brazil and travel through terrorist strongholds in West Africa, these
established ties may increase.
The U. S. Drug Enforcement Admin-
istration has identified West Africa
as a developing hub of narcoterror-
ism, and there is evidence that Latin
American traffickers are collaborating
with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
(AQIM) and Hezbollah to smuggle co-
caine to Europe.
9 In December 2009,
the UNODC informed the UN Secu-
rity Council that drugs were being
traded by “terrorists and anti-gov-
ernment forces” to fund their opera-
tions.
10 That same month, authorities
arrested three individuals in Ghana
for cocaine trafficking who reported
that they were supporting al-Qaeda.
Drug trafficking is not new to either
Brazil or West Africa, but the level of
sophistication of today’s global drug
traffickers has raised international
concern. Several security agencies
have reported that drug dealers have
their own goods containers and their
own jet aircraft network that links
the cocaine-producing regions of
South America and West Africa for
eventual transport to Europe. It is estimated that the fleet includes twin-engine turboprops, executive jets and
even a Boeing 727 (which can carry
up to 10 tons of cargo). In 2009, drug
traffickers landed a Boeing 727 on a
makeshift runway in Mali and unloaded as much as 10 tons of cocaine
before setting the plane ablaze when
it failed to take off again. The transportation fleet gives terrorist groups
like the FARC, al-Qaeda and AQIM the
ability to move vast amounts of illicit
materials back and forth between Brazil and West Africa.
11
The link between terrorist networks in West Africa and Brazil’s drug
traffickers represents an increasing
security threat to Brazil, particularly
as the bidirectional pipelines used to
transport goods, arms, materials, and
people expand and grow more seamless. Coupled with the fact that Brazil
is a nuclear power, this may create the
incentive and capability for acquiring
and transporting illicit nuclear materials, which captured documents indicate has long been a goal of al-Qaeda
and other militant Muslim groups.
Among South American states, Bra-
zil already has the largest presence of
nonterrorist criminal groups, many
of which are involved in the illegal
drug trade. Experts believe terrorists
increasingly use them as a source of
material support. However, while the
tri-border area bet ween Brazil, Argen-
tina and Paraguay has been described
as a “haven for fund-raising, recruit-
ing and [plotting] terrorist attacks
elsewhere,”
12 there is no conclusive
evidence that terrorist networks are
involved in illicit trade in Brazil.Still,
intelligence analysts have confirmed
While the South American giant
does not produce cocaine, its vast
coastline and 10,500 miles ( 17,000 ki-
lometers) of weakly patrolled borders
(more than half of which is jungle)
have presented an attractive opportu-
nity for traffickers. Ten countries in
the region share borders with Brazil,
including the three largest cocaine-
producing countries (Bolivia, Colom-
bia and Peru) and one of the largest
marijuana producers (Paraguay).
Moreover, the growing legitimate
trade relationship between Brazil and
Africa has opened a new corridor for
illicit traffic. Trade with the continent
reached $17.2 billion in 2009. It is no
coincidence that in the same year
Brazil also became the main point of
origin for cocaine shipped to Africa.
Angola, which calls Brazil its largest
trading partner and ranks among the
top destinations for Brazilian exports,
is a case in point.
4 Between 2005 and
2009, trade between Brazil and Angola increased from $520 million to
$1.5 billion, an increase of 183 percent.
By 2009, more than 90 percent of the
drugs that reached Angola by air were
brought from Brazil, mostly transported by African “mules.”
5
Nigeria, where organized crime
groups have been involved in the drug
smuggling business since the 1970s, is
another hotspot in the Brazil–Africa
connection. The country has long
been a jumping-off spot for “mules”
carrying drugs from South Asia to
