Nigeria at Center of China-linked Cybercrime Networks

 Lokmat Times published on 5 December 2025 an article titled "Africa Faces Growing Cybercrime as China Linked Syndicates Expand Operations."

Nigeria is emerging as the epicenter of a cybercrime crisis that is engulfing Africa.  In late 2024 and early 2025, coordinated raids in Lagos and Abuja resulted in the arrest of nearly 1,000 suspects, including 177 Chinese nationals.  These syndicates siphon tens of billions of dollars annually through fake investments, romance schemes, and cryptocurrency fraud.

African governments are operating in an uncomfortable situation.  They are dependent on Chinese economic partnerships while they need to confront criminal networks that involve Chinese nationals.  

China's Foreign Police Training

 The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace published on 13 November 2025 a detailed study titled "China's Foreign Police Training: A Global Footprint" by Sheena Chestnut Greitens, Isaac B. Kardon, and Cameron Waltz.  

This carefully researched study notes that China's police training is one of the Global Security Initiative's most concrete deliverables and most measurable commitments.  Countries in Africa and China's neighbors in Central and Southeast Asia have been the most frequent participants of its police training activities.  

Sino-Moroccan Security Cooperation

 Morocco World News published on 11 November 2025 an article titled "Morocco, China Strengthen Security Cooperation Ahead of Interpol Assembly in Marrakech."  

Morocco's growing relations with China recently included undefined security cooperation.  The two countries agreed to "exchange expertise in various areas of security."

Nigeria Extradites Mob Boss to China

 Business Insider Africa published on 25 August 2025 an article titled "Police Confirm That a Violent Chinese Mob Boss Hiding in Nigeria Has Been Deported" by Chinedu Okafor.

Wanted in China for directing violent organized crimes, INTERPOL tracked down the Chinese national in Nigeria, which then repatriated him to China.

The Expanding International Reach of China's Police

 The Center for American Progress published in October 2022 a comprehensive report titled "The Expanding International Reach of China's Police" by Jordan Link.  

The report maps the universe of China's Ministry of Public Security (MPS) overseas activities, which fall into broad categories of unilateral actions, bilateral engagement, and multilateral engagement. Under President Xi Jinping, the MPS has significantly expanded its overseas activities, increasingly using security cooperation as a tool to expand its influence and shape global norms.

The Ministry's global efforts to implement the Communist Party of China's (CPC) directive to "actively build a law enforcement security cooperation system with Chinese characteristics" pose significant challenges to the United States and other liberal democracies.  The MPS operates under the CPC's own definitions of the rule of law and terrorism, which depart from globally established norms.

The Somali Charcoal Industry-Strange Bedfellows

The Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA) Africa Watch published on 10 July 2014 a brief account titled "The Somali Charcoal Industry-Strange Bedfellows" by George F. Ward, research staff member at IDA.

The article, which is based on a major report dealing with global environmental issues by the UN Environmental Program (UNEP) and Interpol, comments on the unusual ties in the illegal charcoal trade involving al-Shabaab, the Gulf States, the Ras Kamboni militia, and the Kenyan Defense Forces in Somalia.