Trafficking in north Africa: Boom boom A COLOURFUL web of trafficking has spread across north Africa since the Arab awakening two years ago. Smuggling of eggs from Tunisia is now such big business that some Tunisians fear they will run out at home. A brisk trade in European cars via Libyan ports enables many people to dodge import duties. A fifth of Egypt's subsidised fuel is now sold on by smugglers. The region's governments are becoming especially annoyed by the growing drugs trade. Algeria seized 50 tonnes of cannabis in the first half of this year and 73 tonnes last year - almost twice as much as in 2008. That is partly the result of a crackdown by authorities, but drug networks have proliferated throughout the country and traders have refined their methods thanks to closer collaboration with international criminals. Officials in Egypt have nabbed millions of illegally smuggled Viagra pills since 2011. Libya lacks statistics, but according to Wolfram Lacher, a north Africa expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin, drugs trafficking in the country, particularly of hashish and tramadol, a strong painkiller, has risen significantly in the past two years. In Tunis drug dealers increasingly linger outside school gates. According to Egypt's National Council for Battling Drug Addiction, use of recreational drugs among Cairenes over 15 has rocketed from 6% to 30% since 2011. Arms dealing is another growing problem. Libya has been haemorrhaging the weapons stockpile of its former leader, Muammar Qaddafi, since his fall nearly two years ago. A UN report notes that some reach Mali via Algeria and Tunisia, and that the flow to Egypt has intensified since the start of 2012, with some arms ending up in Gaza, the Palestinian enclave ruled by Hamas. Political turmoil in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia has boosted this wave of illegal activity, as weaker law enforcement has lowered the risks. The conflicts in Mali, Syria and Palestine are stoking demand for Libyan weapons. North Africa has become busier as a trade route for drug barons keen to link South American coca terraces to European customers, since consumption of cocaine in the United States began to fall in the 1990s. The most sinister trafficking webs have become entangled with terrorism. Jihadists in north Africa are big customers for weapons. They are also guaranteeing safe passage for cash to smugglers. Criminals in Algeria now depend so heavily on this arrangement that the departure of many of their jihadist bodyguards to fight in Mali has made them tetchy. Algerian authorities say that, as a result, traffickers are targeting security forces with unusual aggression. In January, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb attacked a gas plant in Algeria with guns and explosives looted from Libya. Drug and cigarette money probably financed the gear; the front man of the attack, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, nicknamed "the narco-jihadist," has links to both trades. Tunisia's interior minister said the gun used to kill an opposition leader, Muhammad Brahmi, in July was smuggled in from Libya, too. The group of Salafists implicated in his murder includes an alleged arms dealer and a drug peddler. Governments are scrambling to react. In July the Algerian army was told to clamp down anew on the drugs trade. The operation will apparently involve cross-border units of 25,000 troops. At the start of 2013, Algeria, Libya and Tunisia signed a co-operation agreement to tackle trafficking, with pledges to set up joint checkpoints and work together more closely to police borders. But corruption and poor policing are hampering progress. According to Mr Lacher, officials and businessmen play a bigger role in the trade than terrorists. Libya's inability to deal with organised crime is a big snag, he adds. All of which leaves neighbouring countries with little hope of bringing the smugglers rapidly to heel.