Fuel smuggling in the borderlands between Coastal West Africa and the Sahel is widespread. The economic and political effects of smuggling include government revenue loss and funding for illegal activities, but it remains of significant importance to cross-border trade and livelihoods. This political economy analysis (PEA) of fuel smuggling between Paga, Ghana and Pô, Burkina Faso studies the intersections between illicit and licit cross-border trade flows, and the ways in which these flows have been impacted by the expanding presence of violent extremists in the borderlands.