Trafficking in the Sahel-Saharan Zone: Features and Stakes Notes de l'Ifri, 2010, "The Maghreb in its regional and international environment" Program

On November 5th 2009, a cocaine-loaded Boeing 727 aircraft arriving from Venezuela was discovered torched and emptied on a makeshift airstrip in the Malian desert (Gao region). The Sahel-Saharan area is clearly a contact zone between very distant worlds.