Operation Sentinel: 574 arrests and $3M recovered across Africa
TL;DR
INTERPOL-led Operation Sentinel across 19 African countries resulted in 574 arrests and $3M recovered, targeting cybercrimes like BEC and ransomware. The operation dismantled over 6,000 malicious links and decrypted ransomware variants, linked to $21M in estimated losses.
Source: INTERPOL
Law enforcement in 19 countries have arrested 574 suspects and recovered approximately $3 million USD in a significant cybercrime operation across Africa. Operation Sentinel (Oct. 27 – Nov. 27) focused on three prevalent crime types: business email compromise (BEC), digital extortion and ransomware, all identified as growing threats in INTERPOL’s 2025 Africa Cyber Threat Assessment Report. During the INTERPOL-coordinated initiative, over 6,000 malicious links were taken down and six distinct ransomware variants were decrypted. The cases investigated during the month-long operation were linked to estimated financial losses exceeding $21 million USD. News Release