Sierra Leone’s maritime security systems are under renewed scrutiny following the interception of the Comoros-flagged MV Arconian near the Canary Islands with approximately 30,215 kilograms of cocaine valued at about €812 million onboard.
The vessel, which previously docked in Freetown before continuing its Atlantic voyage, was seized by Spanish authorities on May 1 in what officials have described as one of Europe’s largest drug busts. Twenty-three crew members were arrested during the operation.
Sierra Leone’s Transnational Organised Crime Unit (TOCU) has denied that the country was the source of the shipment, insisting that the vessel left port without illegal cargo.
“The vessel departed Freetown without illegal cargo,” said CSP Michael J.K. Laggah, head of TOCU.
The police added that “definitive evidence confirmed that the alleged cocaine seizure reported in the media did not originate from Sierra Leone.”
“The ship departed Freetown after routine inspections at the Queen Elizabeth II Quay, carrying declared cargo including 1,151 metric tons of palm kernel kegs, 50 metric tons of marine diesel, and 15 metric tons of water.”
He said investigations reviewed port records, CCTV footage, cargo manifests and terminal operator reports, which showed the vessel arrived on April 17, underwent routine inspections, loaded documented cargo, and departed on April 22 with 17 crew members.
However, the case has raised wider questions about maritime security gaps in Sierra Leone, West Africa and the increasing use of the region as a transit corridor in global cocaine trafficking routes between Latin America and Europe.
Security analysts say traffickers often avoid loading drugs in monitored ports and instead rely on offshore ship-to-ship transfers conducted outside territorial waters, where surveillance capacity is limited.
Experts also point to gaps in real-time vessel tracking and limited offshore patrol coverage as key vulnerabilities that can be exploited by organised criminal networks operating across the Atlantic corridor.
West Africa has for years been identified by international anti-narcotics agencies as a key transit zone due to its strategic location along Atlantic shipping routes and uneven maritime enforcement capacity across coastal states.
The MV Arconian case has renewed calls for stronger regional maritime cooperation, improved tracking systems, and enhanced intelligence-sharing between West African and European security agencies.
While Sierra Leone maintains it was not the source of the cocaine shipment, investigations continue in collaboration with international partners to determine how the drugs were loaded and where the breach in the supply chain occurred.
