LYON, France – An INTERPOL-coordinated border security operation in West Africa has led to 62 arrests and the seizure of large amounts of ammunition and explosives, firearms, drugs, counterfeit medicines, and stolen vehicles.
Operation Screen West Africa 2025 (July – October) brought together law enforcement agencies from 12 West African countries to strengthen border security, track persons with links to terrorism and disrupt transnational organized crime networks. Frontline officers at land, air and sea borders used INTERPOL Mobile Devices and other systems to access the Organization’s extensive global databases, carrying out a total of 1.7 million real-time checks, up from 1.3 million in 2024.
INTERPOL Notices lead to the arrest of suspected terrorists
In all, Operation Screen West Africa 2025 led to nine arrests of individuals suspected of connections with terrorism. It also generated almost 250 “hits” against INTERPOL databases, including seven linked to Red Notices and nine linked to Blue Notices citing terrorist activities.
Among the operation’s most notable successes were the arrests in Burkina Faso of two individuals wanted by law enforcement authorities, and subject to Blue Notices issued by Côte d’Ivoire, who were involved in terrorist attacks by Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist group JNIM that killed more than ten security personnel in Côte d’Ivoire in 2020.
Notably, Blue Notices are requests between INTERPOL member countries to collect additional information about a person’s identity, location or activities, in relation to a criminal investigation. These arrests will allow law enforcement officers to further investigate the deadly attack.
Officers in Burkina Faso also arrested a third individual known to have connections to terrorism, who was also the subject of a Blue Notice issued by Togo in 2024 during FIRST (Facial, Imaging, Recognition, Searching and Tracking), another INTERPOL operation that took place in West Africa focusing on identifying suspected terrorists and requesting follow-up Blue Notices.
INTERPOL Executive Director Police Services pro tempore Cyril Gout said:
“These cases highlight how the operational support we offer member countries and our unique specialist tools can make the links that identify suspected terrorists and disrupt their attempts to
create fear and endanger communities. We are determined to counter these threats and constantly work with our member countries to strengthen global security.”
Officers in Ghana were also able to free 21 victims of human trafficking who had been held in Nigeria and exploited in connection with fraudulent schemes.
The operation also included checks at harbours and in territorial waters. INTERPOL alerted participating countries about vessels using deceptive shipping practices, such as identity tampering, so-called dark operations, where ships deliberately switch off their identification systems, and frequent flag changes, or “flag hopping”.
Operational seizures included:
- 17 caches of weapons and ammunition
- Explosives, including dynamite and detonators
- 136 stolen vehicles
- 731 kg of cannabis
- Counterfeit medicine including fake branded opioid pain relief tablets
- Counterfeit currency and fraudulent documents
The proceeds from many of these items may be used to finance terrorism or fund organized crime activities.
Note to Editors
The 12 participating countries were Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, the Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
Operation Screen West Africa 2025 was funded by the German Foreign Federal Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and the United States Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) in the framework of Projects I-CT Shield, WATA and AGWE.