For several years now, the Senegal faces a major challenge, which is drug trafficking. THE Teranga country has experienced an escalation in recent years, due to its strategic geographical position in West Africa. Trafficking networks exploit the country’s vast coasts and transport routes. land transit to transport large quantities of drugs, particularly cocaine, heroin and cannabis.
The money generated by this illicit trade is often laundered through various means, including investment in real estate. Traffickers and their accomplices use shell companies and cash transactions to acquire properties across the country, particularly in urban areas. These investments in real estate offer traffickers a way to hide the illegal origin of their money while making lucrative profits.
During a recent media interview at Walfadjri, the renowned economist Abu Kaneprofessor of economics atCheick Anta Diop University (UCAD) provided interesting figures on how the real estate sector is boosted by revenues from drug trafficking. Referring to the results of the Institute for Security Studies, Abou Kane affirms that cash from drug trafficking made it possible to achieve nearly 200 billion FCFA investments in real estate.
“Since 2021, Senegal has been placed on the gray list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Which means that our country is under close surveillance in terms of the fight against money laundering” notified Abou Kane who adds that the security studies institute estimates that more than 120 real estate agencies were created in Senegal by drug traffickers. This infiltration of the real estate sector by drug money raises major concerns.
First, it contributes to the inflation of real estate prices, making access to housing more difficult for many ordinary Senegalese. Exorbitant property prices in urban areas often exclude the most disadvantaged populations, thereby exacerbating the social and economic inequalities. Second, this trend undermines the integrity of the real estate sector and weakens the economy as a whole.
Opaque real estate deals fueled by drug money undermine the confidence of legitimate investors and risk creating speculative bubbles, threatening long-term financial stability. Finally, investing drug money in real estate can have security implications. Properties acquired by traffickers can be used as hideouts to store drugs or carry out related criminal activities, thereby compromising the safety of surrounding neighborhoods and communities.
Faced with this growing threat, the Senegalese authorities must intensify their efforts to combat drug trafficking and the money laundering that results from it. This requires strengthened cooperation with regional and international partnersas well as effective measures to strengthen transparency and regulation in the real estate sector.
