Paper short abstract:

Drawing on fieldwork in the US and Freetown my presentation explores the different dimensions of international counternarcotics law enforcement in West Africa focusing on the technologies developed to enforce international treaties and agreements.

Paper long abstract:

The US Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S), which combines intelligence services, law enforcement agencies and the armed forces, is one of the most important organisations in the field of international crime control. JIATF-S played an important role in the interception of a large drugs shipment in Sierra Leone. The shipment and the arrest of several suspects led to the so-called Cocaine Trial before the High Court in Freetown, the first trial of this scale in Sierra Leone. Drawing on interviews conducted at the JIATF-S headquarters on Key West and fieldwork in Sierra Leone my presentation will examine the various technologies employed by JIATF-S and the authorities in Sierra Leone to deal with the smuggling of narcotics through Africa. My presentation tracks how the conceptions of a specific problem and field of intervention are shaped by the new technologies of crime control.