In April, the French naval frigate Floréal, operating under the EU Naval Force’s Operation Atalanta, intercepted massive drug shipments off Somalia’s coast, seizing nearly 1,400 kg of heroin and other narcotics valued at over €50 million. These busts expose a troubling evolution in East Africa’s maritime threats. Once dominated by piracy, the region’s coastal waters are now a conduit for heroin, methamphetamine, and hashish smuggled from Pakistan through the so-called "Smack Track" to Europe. The traffickers often linked to extremist groups highlight the growing convergence of criminal and ideological actors. Former pirate financiers appear to have shifted toward more lucrative and less risky maritime trafficking. Intelligence suggests that violent extremist organizations (VEOs), including Somalia’s Al-Shabaab and affiliates in Kenya, Mozambique, and the DRC, use these smuggling routes for logistics, funding, and recruitment. Tanzania’s porous coastline, particularly areas like Tanga and Mtwara, has become a hub connecting VEOs to transnational crime. As analysts trace the fluid but dangerous connections between criminal and extremist networks, regional security is at risk. Operation Atalanta now plays a dual role disrupting piracy and curbing illicit financial flows.