State/INL Sierra Leone Program

Funding:

• FY 2008 - $0
• FY 2009 - $250,000 (INCLE*)
• FY 2010 - $250,000 (INCLE*)
• FY2010 - $992,535 (INCLE*)**
• FY2011 - $0

*INCLE: International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement Funds
**Funds from a Military Interdepartmental Purchase Request (MIPR)

Program Goals:

Strengthen the law enforcement capacity of Sierra Leome to combat the threat of illicit international drug trafficking and other organized crime.

Program Components:

Sierra Leone is a transit zone for South American cocaine en route to Europe. Drug trafficking in West Africa is a threat to regional security, good governance, and public health. The proceeds of the cocaine trafficked through Sierra Leone flow back to and reinforce the financial strength of the same organizations that move cocaine to the United States. The Government of Sierra Leone has been a key counternarcotics partner in the region. In 2008, a plane carrying over 700 kilograms of cocaine landed in Sierra Leone. The government arrested and tried the perpetrators and then expelled three individuals into U.S. custody.

• Law Enforcement Support:
  The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) has provided support for Sierra Leone law enforcement through a project of the United Nations Office on Narcotics and Crime designed to respond to the threat posed by illicit drug trafficking and organized crime.
  
  This assistance will build a new facility housing the Transnational Organized Crime Unit of the Sierra Leone Police. It will enhance the forensic services capabilities of Sierra Leone in support of combating crime. It will also strengthen the capacity to combat drug trafficking by bolstering the maritime patrolling capabilities of Sierra Leone. The establishment and reinforcement of Sierra Leone’s Transnational Organized Crime Unit makes Sierra Leone more capable of cooperating against illicit trafficking and organized crime with its international partners, including neighboring countries under the West Africa Coast Initiative and other members of the broader Economic Community of West African States.