Mozambique: Detained Pakistanis part of international drug ring – AIM report

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Mozambique: Detained Pakistanis part of international drug ring – AIM report

11:46 CAT | 04 May 2020

File photo: O País

The Cabo Delgado Provincial Attorney’s Office, in northern Mozambique has declared that the 13 Pakistanis detained on 24 December off the coast of the province in possession of illicit drugs are part of an international drug trafficking ring.

In a joint operation between the Mozambican navy and the National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC), the Pakistanis were arrested when their boat, carrying heroin and amphetamines, ran aground on a sandbank in the Bay of Pemba, off the Cabo Delgado coast.

When they realised they were being pursued, the traffickers tried to sink their boat and destroy the evidence. They damaged the boat but SERNIC was able to seize some of the drugs, and arrest all 13 people on board. The age of the Pakistanis was estimated at between 30 and 75. The drug was being carried in plastic bags and bowls.

From the wreckage of the boat, SERNIC salvaged 126 kilos of heroin and 299 kilos of amphetamines. It is assumed that larger quantities were on boat and were lost when the boat sank.

The detention of the Pakistanis followed the seizure a week earlier of 12 Iranian heroin smugglers, who used exactly the same type of wooden boats. The Iranians were more successful than the Pakistanis in destroying the evidence – they set the boat and its cargo of 1.5 tonnes of heroin on fire, and then attempted to escape by jumping into the sea. Of the 15 people on board the Iranian vessel, 12 were detained, and the other three are believed to have drowned.

The two seizures showed graphically how Mozambique is used as a corridor in the heroin trade. The heroin, probably from Afghanistan, is taken by small boats to the northern Mozambican coast, and then broken up into smaller amounts to be carried overland.

The Mozambican market for drugs is unlikely to absorb two tonnes of heroin in a fortnight. The final destination is likely to be South Africa.

The Attorney’s office in Cabo Delgado, cited in Saturday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, said that Mozambique is currently working with the governments of Pakistan, India, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar and Somalia to obtain more information about the operations of the drug trafficking network which the Pakistanis were working for.

Last week the Provincial Attorney’s Office incinerated 400 kilos of illicit drugs (hashish, heroin and amphetamines) in the Mieze prison in Metuge district.

Source: AIM