Police units worldwide have teamed up in a series of covert operations targeting Black Axe, one of West Africa’s most notorious criminal networks.
Operation Jackal III, which took place between April and July 2024, saw officers in body armor conduct raids across 21 countries.
Coordinated by Interpol, the global policing agency, the operation resulted in the arrest of 300 individuals connected to Black Axe and its affiliated groups.
Interpol described the crackdown as a “major blow” to the Nigerian crime network but cautioned that its international reach and advanced technology continue to pose a global threat.
Notably, Canadian authorities had previously uncovered a Black Axe-linked money-laundering scheme worth over $5 billion (£3.8 billion) in 2017.
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“They are very organised and very structured,” Tomonobu Kaya, a senior official at Interpol’s Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre, told the BBC.
According to a 2022 report by Interpol, “Black Axe and similar groups are responsible for the majority of the world’s cyber-enabled financial fraud as well as many other serious crimes”.
Mr. Kaya noted that advancements in money-transfer software and cryptocurrency have benefited the group, which is notorious for executing multi-million dollar online scams.
“These criminal syndicates are early adopters of new technologies… A lot of fintech developments make it really easy to illegally move money around the world,” he said.
Operation Jackal III, years in the making, resulted in the seizure of $3 million in illegal assets and the freezing of over 700 bank accounts.
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Many members of Black Axe are university-educated and are often recruited during their academic years.
The organization operates as a covert criminal network involved in trafficking, prostitution, and murder globally.
Its primary source of income comes from cyber-crime, targeting both individuals and businesses.
Since 2022, multiple “Jackal” operations have been conducted, leading to numerous arrests and the confiscation of electronic devices from Black Axe and affiliated gang members.
This extensive effort has allowed Interpol to build a comprehensive intelligence database, now shared with law enforcement agencies across its 196 member countries.
“We need to have data and to collate our findings from these countries to help build a picture of their modus operandi,” said Mr Kaya.
Despite numerous international arrests, some experts argue that insufficient progress has been made in addressing the root causes of these crime syndicates in West Africa.
“The emphasis must actually be on prevention not on outright operations against these criminal groups,” said Dr Oluwole Ojewale, West Africa Regional Co-ordinator from the Institute for Security Studies.
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Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest economies, has seen widespread anti-corruption protests recently and has up to 87 million people living below the poverty line, according to the World Bank. It is also a primary recruitment ground for Black Axe.
Interpol is conducting training with key Nigerian stakeholders and police officials, but corruption and allegations of collusion between Black Axe and local authorities continue to pose significant challenges.
“It is the politicians who are actually arming these boys,” said Dr Ojewale. “The general failure of governance in the country has made pressures for people to be initiated [into Black Axe].”
Despite its global scope today, Interpol’s Jackal Operations originated in Ireland. In 2020, police raids by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) led to the arrest of several Black Axe members, uncovering a much broader network.
“They were very under the radar, very low-key,” said Michael Cryan, detective superintendent at the GNECB, which led the operation.
“The amount of money being laundered through Ireland was astronomical,” he added.
The police later identified 1,000 individuals connected to Black Axe in Ireland and have made hundreds of arrests related to fraud and cyber-crime.
“Bank robberies are now done with laptops – they’re far more sophisticated,” said Det Supt Cryan.
He estimates that €200 million ($220 million; £170 million) has been stolen online in Ireland over the past five years, representing only about 20% of the cyber-crimes believed to be reported.
“This is not typical or ordinary crime… People who make decisions need to know how serious this is,” he said.
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In November 2023, Irish police operations revealed that cryptocurrency is becoming a key tool in Black Axe’s money-laundering schemes.
During one operation, authorities seized over €1 million in crypto-assets.
To combat these advances, Interpol has introduced the Global Rapid Intervention of Payments system (I-GRIP).
This new technology allows member countries to freeze bank accounts worldwide with unprecedented speed.
It was recently used to block a $40 million scam targeting a business in Singapore.
Interpol’s Mr. Kaya stated that such technology would significantly hinder criminals’ ability to move money across borders with impunity.
A concerted global effort is now underway to gather and share intelligence on Black Axe and other West African criminal networks.
“If we can gather this data we can take action,” he said.
