In a three-month sweeping campaign stretching from the savannas of Angola to the streets of Nairobi, African law enforcement agencies have joined forces with Interpol and Afripol to dismantle one of the continent’s most elusive enemies, terrorist financing.
Dubbed Operation Catalyst, the unprecedented effort ran from July to September 2025 and resulted in 83 arrests across six countries – Angola, Cameroon, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria and South Sudan. What investigators uncovered paints a chilling portrait of how modern terror is bankrolled: a $260 million web of cash and cryptocurrency, laced with fraud, cybercrime and deceit.
What began as a counter-terrorism mission quickly spiraled into a deeper investigation of Africa’s digital underworld. Interpol said many of the financial trails were tied to online scams, Ponzi schemes, and money laundering networks. A convergence of crime that blurs the line between cybercriminals and terrorists.
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