Mozambique’s National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) has seized 120 boxes of sweets containing cocaine, a Brazilian drug, at Maputo International Airport, an official told Luse on Friday.
“After a thorough inspection of the goods, it turned out that they were not just candies. Inside the candies, a white powder was found, which after testing turned out to be cocaine. We are talking about 120 boxes, which weigh a gross of almost one ton and four hundred kilograms,” said Hilario Lole, a representative of Cernic in the city of Maputo.
The discovery of an unspecified amount of cocaine arriving from Guarulhos, Brazil, led to the arrest of three people, including employees of the Tax Administration and the company providing services to Aeroportos de Moçambique, authorities said.
“We have arrest warrants for six more people, some employees of Mozambique airports and other companies that provide services to this organization (…). Work is underway to establish the destination of the goods,” he added.
The operation followed the first seizure on the 19th of this month of 90 kilograms of cocaine hidden in 446 boxes of deodorant bottles.
Mozambique is identified by several international organisations as a transit corridor for international drug trafficking destined for Europe and the United States, particularly heroin from Asia, but cocaine seizures from South America have also increased.
On 13 May, in an interview with Luce, the representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Organized Crime (UNODC) in Mozambique warned of the growth of the Portuguese-language trafficking market, denouncing the existence of Brazilian “cartels” with contacts in Portuguese-speaking countries.
“We see how Brazilian cartels are already involved in drug trafficking with organized Mozambican groups, as well as with other Portuguese-speaking countries,” António De Vivo said at the time.
Data from the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic of Mozambique shows that 1,251 criminal cases related to drug trafficking were opened in 2023, up from 1,035 in 2022, warning of an increase in drug trade and consumption in the country.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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