USNI News: ‘US Navy deployed USS Hershel ‘Woody’ Williams near major African drug trafficking routes’
The US Naval Institute’s news organ, USNI News, brought an article this week on the deployment of its only U.S. Africa Command’s vessel’s journey through major African drug trafficking chokepoints. Head of Intelligence Analysis Guy Wilson-Roberts was interviewed on the threat.
2 November 2021
Following a stop in Maputo, Mozambique, the U.S. Africa Command's vessel USS Hershel “Woody” Williams moved through the Mozambique Channel late last month for the second time this year, writes USNI News, the news organ of the US Naval Institute.
The route coincided with major chokepoints of some of Africa's busiest opioid drug trafficking routes, and in an article outlining the vessel's recent movements and the African drug trafficking challenge, USNI News interviewed Risk Intelligence's Head of Intelligence Analysis, Dr. Guy Wilson-Roberts for a comment:
"Warships from multiple countries operating off the coasts of Africa in recent years have served as a deterrent against actions like piracy and are part of the decrease in Somali piracy. But when it comes to countering drug trafficking, tracking and observing some of the local vessels that move throughout the region is more difficult."
“We know that smuggling is extensive. It takes place along the coastline of countries in the region. It takes place across longer distances across the Indian Ocean into south Asia using larger vessels. And so it’s difficult to get an overall picture of the volume of smuggling taking place. Some of the high profile busts that take place from time to time give us a little bit of an insight into the scale of the operations,” Wilson-Roberts added.
“But I think, unfortunately, like drug smuggling worldwide, the interceptions that take place are often quite significant, but are really only affecting the smuggling activity in a small way. The volume of traffic is simply too large to interdict everything.”
A U.S. defense official told USNI News: “In south-east Africa and the Mozambique Channel, drug smuggling along the Southern Route is a significant threat, as traffickers move narcotics from the Makran Coast of Iran [and] Pakistan into African countries on the southeast coast intended for local African markets and further export to Europe.”
Read the full article on the US Naval Institute’s website.
MORE ON THE SMUGGLING THREAT:
Drug trafficking into Europe has increased during the Covid-19 pandemic, posing a threat to both maritime operations and land-based logistics. Europe analyst Kristian Bischoff recently held webinars on these threats. Get in touch here if you’d like access to the webinar recording: