Mozambique’s Public Ministry announced this Thursday that it has charged ten citizens, including judges and police officers, with criminal association and abuse of power for the release of an alleged Tanzanian drug trafficker.
A statement from the Anti-Corruption Directorate of Zambezia Province explained that the accused in question, “in the exercise of their functions,” arrested in June 2021 a man “allegedly of Tanzanian nationality, suspected of trafficking drugs from the north of the country to Maputo and supplying them in the military zone.”
“By joint action, they concealed the presence of the drug in the suspect’s house, and also ignored the appropriate measures to establish the material truth, hastily facilitating his release, which was authorized by the criminal investigation judge. “, on the basis that there is no evidence of crimes related to human trafficking and other illegal activities,” the prosecutor’s office clarifies.
He adds that ten citizens are accused in this case, which was opened in 2021, including a magistrate from the prosecutor’s office, a trial judge and eight members of the Criminal Investigation Service and the Defense Police.
It also states that all the defendants were charged with committing the types of crimes provided for by law, namely abuse of official position or official duties, refusal to assist in criminal prosecution and criminal association.