Niger: interior minister’s wife implicated in widespread visa trafficking operation

General Mohamed Toumba, Niger’s influential Minister of Interior and a pivotal member of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) since the July 26, 2023 coup d’état, is currently at the center of a grave and sensitive affair. This high-ranking official faces indirect implications in an illicit scheme involving the sale of residency permits for travel between West Africa and Europe, a scandal in which his spouse is directly implicated.

Illicit passage to the Schengen Area

The details of this case, previously confined to diplomatic and security circles within Niamey, have now emerged, revealing the Spanish Embassy in Niger as a central point of concern. The wife of General Toumba, who formerly served as a staff member at this chancery, is under suspicion of leveraging her past affiliation to orchestrate an extensive network facilitating Schengen visa trafficking.

The operational methodology of this now-dismantled network involved clandestine services that proved exceptionally lucrative:

• Fees: Each visa commanded a price ranging from 2 to 5 million CFA francs, equivalent to approximately 3,048 to 7,622 euros.
• Process: Applicants were exempted from physical appearances at consular offices, with all procedural steps managed remotely.
• Targeted Beneficiaries: The scheme primarily attracted Malian nationals. These individuals were granted an unlawful waiver from the mandatory verification of a Nigerien residence permit, a document typically required to circumvent the Spanish Embassy in Bamako. Upon their arrival in Madrid, local contacts would immediately facilitate their onward arrangements.

Preliminary investigative findings indicate that approximately 1,500 Malian citizens were able to travel to Europe through this illicit pipeline.

Financial ramifications and key arrests

Investigations spearheaded by the Directorate General of Documentation and External Security (DGDSE), under the leadership of Lieutenant-Colonel Souleymane Balla-Arabé, have uncovered suspicious financial networks designed to launder funds across the region, with notable flows directed towards Senegal.

External intelligence operatives have executed several significant arrests:

• Maty Cissokho Toumba, the spouse of the Interior Minister, was subjected to questioning by investigators.
• Samsoudine Idrissa, identified as the network’s logistical coordinator and an associate of General Toumba, was apprehended by the DGDSE immediately after departing the minister’s residence.
• Another alleged accomplice, reportedly recruited by the minister’s wife shortly before her departure from the Spanish Embassy approximately a year ago, is also under judicial scrutiny.

Political tensions at the apex of government

The initiation of this legal process, overseen by the DGDSE intelligence services rather than conventional judicial police, has intensified existing internal rivalries within the ruling military junta.

This developing scandal further exacerbates an atmosphere of distrust pervading the transitional regime. General Abdourahamane Tchiani, the President of the transition, is increasingly observed to be consolidating power among members of his own Haoussa community, often at the expense of other senior officials from the Zarma community. Consequently, this affair directly undermines prominent Zarma figures within the administration, notably General Mohamed Toumba, who holds the third-highest position in the junta, and General Salifou Modi, the highly regarded Minister of Defense.