The International Criminal Police Organisation, INTERPOL, has vowed to make it increasingly difficult for organised criminal groups to make money from their activities across West Africa.
The organisation said it was targeting the financial networks that support organised crime, stressing that following the movement of illegal funds across borders was key to weakening criminal groups.
INTERPOL’s Director of the Financial Crime Centre, Tomonobu Kaya, disclosed this while giving an account of an eight-month operation carried out across the region to trace illicit financial flows and disrupt criminal networks.
The operation, codenamed Operation Jackal IV, focused on tracking money linked to organised criminal activities across borders.
Kaya said the operation showed the importance of cooperation among law enforcement agencies in different countries, particularly as criminal groups increasingly operate across national borders.
“By following illicit financial flows across borders, we are attacking the very lifeblood of organised crime and making it increasingly difficult for criminal networks to profit from their activities,” Kaya said.
He added that Operation Jackal IV had demonstrated “the power of international co-operation” in fighting organised crime.
According to him, INTERPOL supported participating countries by helping them coordinate their activities and share intelligence on criminal networks and suspicious financial transactions.
The organisation also provided specialised support and training to investigators handling money-laundering cases.
Kaya said the financial side of organised crime had become an important area of focus because criminal networks could not continue their operations without access to money.
He explained that by identifying, tracing and disrupting illegal funds, law enforcement agencies could weaken criminal groups even when the suspects themselves were operating from different countries.
The operation also highlighted the growing threat posed by scams and other forms of financial crime in the region.
Kaya noted that some scams specifically targeted “retirees in English-speaking countries”, showing how criminals could use modern communication tools to target victims far from where the criminal activities were taking place.
Such scams can involve fraudsters pretending to be trusted individuals or organisations to deceive victims into transferring money or revealing sensitive financial information.
The international nature of these crimes makes cooperation among police agencies particularly important. Criminals can operate from one country, use bank accounts or financial services in another country and target victims in a third country.
As a result, investigators often need information from several jurisdictions before they can identify the people behind a criminal operation or trace the proceeds.
Operation Jackal IV was therefore designed to strengthen cooperation and intelligence sharing among law enforcement agencies involved in the fight against financial and organised crime.
INTERPOL’s role included helping countries coordinate investigations, exchange intelligence and improve their capacity to investigate money laundering.
The organisation’s support is significant because money laundering allows criminals to hide the proceeds of illegal activities and make the funds appear legitimate.
Criminal groups involved in activities such as fraud, drug trafficking, kidnapping, human trafficking and other forms of organised crime often depend on financial networks to move and conceal their proceeds.
By disrupting these networks, law enforcement agencies can make it harder for criminals to enjoy or reinvest the proceeds of crime.
West Africa has faced growing concerns over transnational organised crime, including cyber fraud, drug trafficking, human trafficking and financial crimes. The movement of people, goods and money across borders can make investigations more difficult, especially where criminal groups take advantage of differences in national laws and enforcement systems.
Nigeria and other countries in the region have also continued to strengthen their efforts against money laundering and financial crimes through their police, financial intelligence and other law enforcement agencies.
The increasing use of digital banking and online payment platforms has created new opportunities for legitimate businesses and individuals but has also provided criminals with additional channels through which they can move money.
For investigators, tracing such transactions quickly and identifying the final beneficiaries can be critical to stopping criminal operations.
INTERPOL’s latest operation reinforces the view that tackling organised crime requires more than arresting suspects. Authorities also need to follow the money and disrupt the financial systems that allow criminal networks to survive.
Kaya said the organisation would continue to support countries in their efforts to identify and disrupt illicit financial flows.
He stressed that international cooperation remained central to the fight against organised crime, given that criminal networks rarely operate within the limits of a single country.
The success of operations such as Jackal IV, according to INTERPOL, depends on countries sharing information, coordinating investigations and building the skills of officers responsible for tracing illegal funds.
The organisation’s approach reflects a broader shift in international law enforcement towards targeting the financial gains of crime.
For criminal networks, the ability to make, move and hide money is essential to sustaining their operations. Cutting off those financial channels can therefore weaken their ability to recruit members, acquire resources and expand their activities.
With criminal groups increasingly using cross-border networks and digital platforms, INTERPOL said cooperation among countries would remain necessary to ensure that criminals cannot easily move their money beyond the reach of investigators.
Operation Jackal IV, the organisation said, is part of that wider effort to make West Africa a more difficult environment for organised criminal groups to operate and profit from illegal activities.