The International Criminal Police Organisation, INTERPOL, has arrested 58 suspected members of West African organised crime networks and identified 263 suspects across 22 countries in an eight-month international crackdown.
The operation, codenamed Operation Jackal IV, was conducted between November 2025 and June 2026 and targeted criminal networks allegedly involved in cyber-enabled fraud, money laundering and other violent and financial crimes.
INTERPOL disclosed the outcome of the operation in a statement published on Tuesday.
The agency said the operation involved law enforcement authorities from 22 countries across six continents, with investigators focusing on dismantling criminal networks, tracing illicit financial flows, recovering criminal proceeds and strengthening prosecutions.
The operation targeted networks linked to Black Axe and other West African criminal groups allegedly involved in romance scams, cryptocurrency and investment fraud, as well as business email compromise schemes.
The Director of INTERPOL’s Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre, Tomonobu Kaya, said the operation demonstrated the importance of international cooperation in tackling organised crime.
Kaya said investigators were attacking the financial infrastructure that enables criminal organisations to operate across borders.
“By following illicit financial flows across borders, we are attacking the very lifeblood of organised crime,” he said.
196 suspects identified in Argentina
In Argentina, investigators identified 196 people allegedly connected to a major Crime-as-a-Service network accused of providing website domains and money-laundering services to West African criminal groups.
The investigation resulted in 17 arrests.
South African authorities also raided seven locations in Johannesburg in connection with an investigation into a syndicate allegedly involved in romance and investment scams targeting retirees in English-speaking countries.
The operation led to 39 arrests, while authorities seized $2.67m and froze 257 bank accounts, according to INTERPOL.
In Italy, investigators uncovered a suspected money-laundering network operating across Europe through shell companies, remittance businesses and cash withdrawals.
INTERPOL said one bank account linked to the network processed €845,000 in 560 transactions involving 20 financial instruments.
Romanian authorities, meanwhile, dismantled a criminal organisation allegedly operating an investment scam through a call centre and arrested 11 suspects.
Authorities recovered about €330,000 in cash and cryptocurrency, six properties and several luxury watches.
INTERPOL said investigators estimated that the Romanian-linked scheme had generated and laundered about €143m globally.
Sextortion involving minors uncovered
Beyond conventional financial crimes, INTERPOL said Operation Jackal IV also uncovered an increase in sextortion cases involving West African organised crime groups and minors.
The agency said some victims were as young as 14.
According to INTERPOL, suspects allegedly used social media platforms to establish relationships with minors before coercing them into sending explicit images or videos and subsequently threatening to circulate the material unless ransom payments were made.
The operation also revealed the growing use of Crime-as-a-Service providers, including operators on the dark web, by organised crime groups seeking to outsource specialised criminal activities such as money laundering.
Nigeria among participating countries
Nigeria was among the 22 countries that participated in the operation.
Other participating countries were Austria, Argentina, Australia, Canada, Côte d’Ivoire, France, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.
INTERPOL said the results underscored the increasingly transnational character of West African organised crime.
It stressed that sustained cooperation among law enforcement agencies remained crucial to disrupting criminal networks, recovering illicit proceeds and dismantling the financial systems that enable such groups to operate internationally.
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