CID warns of ‘Model Q’ trafficking network reshaping organised crime across West Africa

The Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, DCOP Lydia Yaako Donkor, has warned that a new and highly sophisticated criminal model known as "Model Q" is transforming the landscape of human trafficking and migrant smuggling across West and Central Africa, with organised syndicates increasingly exploiting digital platforms to recruit and enslave vulnerable people.

Addressing participants at the opening of the EOCO-INTERPOL Three-Day Regional Coordination and Case Resolution Workshop on Combating Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling at the Ecobank Headquarters in Accra on Monday, July 6, DCOP Donkor said the region was witnessing an alarming shift from traditional trafficking methods to technology-driven criminal operations that combine online deception, financial fraud and psychological manipulation.

The workshop, organised by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) in partnership with INTERPOL, has assembled investigators, prosecutors, intelligence officers and law enforcement officials from across West and Central Africa to strengthen regional cooperation against cross-border trafficking, migrant smuggling and organised scam networks.