An eight-month INTERPOL-led operation targeting organised crime networks in West Africa has resulted in 58 arrests and the identification of 263 suspects across 22 countries.
Operation Jackal IV, which ran from November 2025 to June 2026, targeted money laundering networks and cyber-enabled financial fraud linked to West African criminal syndicates, including Nigeria’s Black Axe.
The operation focused on dismantling networks involved in romance scams, investment fraud, cryptocurrency schemes and business email compromise, which investigators say account for a significant share of global cyber-enabled financial crimes.
In South Africa, INTERPOL supported a major raid in Johannesburg targeting a syndicate accused of running romance and investment scams against retirees in English-speaking countries.
The operation resulted in the arrest of 39 people, the seizure of $2.67 million and the freezing of 257 bank accounts.
Investigators also uncovered a growing use of sextortion by West African criminal groups to target minors, with some victims as young as 14.
The findings highlight the expanding reach and changing methods of organised crime networks operating across borders, particularly their increasing reliance on digital platforms and financial technologies to defraud victims and launder proceeds.
Ivory Coast and Nigeria were among the African countries that participated in Operation Jackal IV, alongside law enforcement agencies from other countries involved in the eight-month operation.
INTERPOL said the operation demonstrated the importance of international cooperation in identifying suspects, disrupting criminal networks and tracing illicit financial flows linked to organised crime.
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