The Cocaine root Guinea-Bissau to Morroco to Spain

Guinea-Bissau is an ideal African springboard for Latin American mafias to smuggle large quantities of cocaine into the wealthy European Union market.
Conditions in this small former Portuguese colony in West Africa are optimal. There is minimal surveillance, not a single prison worthy of the name, a weak state and officials susceptible to bribery and corruption.UNODC experts calculate that one-quarter of the cocaine consumed in Europe is trafficked through West Africa, especially Guinea-Bissau. The trade in cocaine is estimated at $2 billion, that is to say, nearly twice the country’s GDP of just over $1 billion a year.However, in the streets of the richest capital cities in Europe its value could be as high as $20 billion, or 10 times as much.“Today, Guinea-Bissau is literally fenced in. We must entertain no illusions: the state could collapse,” said Antonio María Costa, the head of UNODC.Costa maintains that South American traffickers chose Guinea-Bissau partly because of its convenient location in West Africa, but mainly because its authorities are incapable of combating organised crime.