Nigeria, March 4 -- The W-Arly-Pendjari (WAP) Complex is a vast wildlife sanctuary spanning the intersecting borders of Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger. With one of the most diverse ecosystems in West Africa's savanna belt, it is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation World Heritage Site and shelters threatened species such as cheetahs, giraffes, wild dogs, elephants, lions and leopards.

But the WAP's million hectares of remote landscape is also a hub for organised transnational crimes, including the trafficking of weapons, drugs and people.

Weapons smuggling is the most prolific illegal activity in the WAP, says Juliana Appiah from the University of Ghana's Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy....