Diaspora and drug trafficking in West Africa: A case study of Ghana

Abstract

This article interrogates the emergence of drug trafficking in contemporary Ghana and West Africa within the context of a global political economy, situated within a deeper historical perspective. It examines the earlier trafficking of cannabis along the coast of West Africa in the colonial period, and the later transnational networks that have emerged to promote international drug trafficking (cocaine and heroin). The article probes how the African diaspora and international travel service these emerging drug networks in Ghana, West Africa, Europe and the Americas. It suggests that the concept of an 'ideological diaspora' could shed light on a shared global popular culture, which constitutes a counter culture and rationalizes criminal activities. IN A RECENT, IMPORTANT ARTICLE ON WEST AFRICAN CRIMINAL NETWORKS in southern Africa, Mark Shaw highlighted the need for academic researchdespite the difficulty in researching crime-to provide a fuller understanding of African criminal networks, 'not least to provide an independent and strategic overview of developments and the identification of trends'. 1 Much of the existing literature on the trafficking of illicit narcotic drugs (cannabis, heroin, and cocaine) has been from a policy perspective, funded by agencies in consumer countries in the West. This article is a preliminary reflection on drug trafficking from a West African perspective, situating this development within the larger global political economy, as well as providing a deeper historical framework. The article examines how drug Emmanuel Akyeampong teaches in the History Department at Harvard University. He is grateful to Colonel (rtd) Isaac Akuoku, Executive Secretary of the Narcotics Control Board in Ghana, for his permission to consult the records of the organization. He is also indebted to his two deputies, Emmanuel Agyarko and Major Abdul Braimah, and to Mr Amankwaah, the Educational Officer, for several informal lectures. He also acknowledges his debt to Dr J. B. Asare, head of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, who has long supported a historian's interest in addiction and given him access to the hospital's records. He owes several insights on crime in Ghana to conversations spanning several years with D.S.P. Ayalingo, former head of the Police Narcotics Unit.

How Do Illicit Drugs Move Across Countries? A Network Analysis of the Heroin Supply to Europe

“…As is the case with legal trade, paired countries with intense migration flows are also more likely to traffic heroin with each other. This confirms findings from previous studies on the influence of migration patterns on drug trafficking routes (Akyeampong, 2005;Paoli & Reuter, 2008;Zaitch, 2002). For instance, Paoli and Reuter (2008) found that Turkish and Albanian ethnic groups dominate the import and retail distribution of heroin in Europe.…”

Drug trafficking, use, and HIV risk: The need for comprehensive interventions

“…West Africa was a transit site for heroin trafficking as early as the 1950s, when Lebanese smuggled Near East heroin from Beirut through Kano, Nigeria and Accra, Ghana, to New York City (Akyeampong 2005;Ellis 2009). Nigerians and Ghanaian traffickers joined the global movement of illicit substances during the 1960s when they began exporting cannabis to Europe.…”

The Diaspora Nigerians’ Image Problem of Drug and Fraud: A Case Study of the Malaysian-Indonesian Experience through Newspaper Reports

“…The paper looks at how drug trafficking had been an issue since the colonial times and how the whole process has been internationalized especially through the borders of Ghana and other West African nations such as Nigeria. One can say that it is through the internationalization of drugs as Emmanuel Akyeampong posits that some Nigerians coming to the East now see Malaysia and Indonesia as a soft target for their drug peddling activities hence the problem which these nations also face presently and which forms one of the issues in our paper (Akyeampong, 2005). This paper is divided into six parts, beginning with the introduction.…”