# Africa's shifting role in the global drug trade

https://mins.news/en/item/129245

- DW, 2026-11-04 15:18 UTC
- Society
- Original: https://www.dw.com/en/africa-s-shifting-role-in-the-global-drug-trade/a-79847720?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

> Africa, long known mainly as a transit point for international drug trafficking, is increasingly becoming a site of synthetic-drug production, recent seizures and laboratory discoveries indicate. Nigeria’s drug agency says it dismantled the country’s largest meth lab in Ogun State, arresting 10 people and seizing more than 2.4 metric tons of methamphetamine and related materials. UNODC says transnational criminal networks and clandestine labs are driving production, while drug use is taking a heavy toll on families and communities.