According to the WWF, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Thailand are the three top countries in 2009 that were involved in the selling of elephant ivory.

Source: “Worry over ivory trade increase,” WWF, November 17, 2009.

According to Nigeria’s Police Affair Minister, over 500 people were abducted in kidnap and ransom cases in the first 6 months of 2009.

The ransom demands range between $700,000 to $3 Million, although negotiations usually bring down the actual payments.

Source:  Aderogba Obisesean, “Now it’s not just oil workers under threat from Nigeria’s kidnappers,” Telegraph, October 28, 2009.

Kidnappers in Nigeria were able to generate over $100 Million in ransom payments from 2006 to 2008.

Source:  Gilbert de Costa, “Police Implicated in Nigeria Kidnapping,” VOA News, September 24, 2009.

Nigeria loses up to $1.5 billion a year to oil theft and illegal smuggling.

Source:  Benoit Faucon, “Niger Delta’s Oil Theft More Sophisticated,” Dow Jones Newswire, February 27, 2009.

Up to 55 million barrels of oil is lost in Nigeria each year to theft or smuggling.  The illicit activity of stealing oil and selling it on the black market is known as “bunkering”.

Source: AFP, “Organized crime plundering West Africa: UN,” Google News, July 7, 2009.

Price is in US Dollars, and represents the typical price of Marijuana in Africa.

Source: UNODC, “World Drug Report 2009: Section 3.4 Prices, pages 215 to 234,” June 2009.

Price is in US Dollars and represents the typical price of Cocaine in Africa.

Source:  UNODC, “World Drug Report 2009: Section 3.4 Prices, pages 215 to 234,” June 2009.

Prices are in US Dollars and represent the typical price of heroin in Africa.

Source: UNODC, “World Drug Report 2009: Section 3.4 Prices, pages 215 to 234,” June 2009.