Part of the heroin and ‘ice’ seized in Cabo Delgado allegedly destined for Tanzania – Carta

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Part of the heroin and ‘ice’ seized in Cabo Delgado allegedly destined for Tanzania – Carta

12:06 CAT | 14 Feb 2020

Map: BBC

On December 23, 2019, Mozambique Navy officers, together with the National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC), State Information and Security Service (SISE) and in collaboration with international forces working to combat drug trafficking, intercepted a vessel carrying 430 kg of heroin and ‘ice’ off the Mozambican coast.

In January, authorities said the vessel was also carrying 13 citizens of Pakistani nationality – now awaiting trial at the Miezé Penitentiary in Cabo Delgado.

‘Carta de Moçambique’ has now learned from sources involved in the operation that part of the “merchandise” seized belonged to three groups of drug traffickers, one of them based in the Republic of Tanzania.

According to sources, the Pakistanis alleged under interrogation that part of the “merchandise”, with the code 8759, was destined for a group of drug traffickers based in Tanzania, whose leader’s name we prefer to omit.

The same sources said that the group had set up a land and sea circulation scheme, and, because of the porosity of the border between Mozambique and Tanzania, were intending to move the merchandise to the neighbouring country by truck.

Sources told ‘Carta’ that the drugs were intended to be received by members of the network in Pemba, but was intercepted after coordinated intelligence work between institutions and investigators, and the group was unable to sink the vessel in time.

The same sources also allege the disappearance of the seized drugs, some residents of the provincial capital of Cabo Delgado telling our reporter that there are some officers selling the ‘product’ to dealers and consumers.

The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GITOC), in a study published in Maputo in April 2019, cited Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya as the main corridors for the circulation of heavy drugs.

In October of last year, 543,793 kg of various drugs, seized between July 2018 and October 2019, were incinerated in the city of Maputo.

Source: Carta de Moçambique