Africa-Press – Mozambique. The head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Mozambique said Thursday that the armed violence in Cabo Delgado could open space for an increase in the activities of drug trafficking networks.
“The contexts of instability are naturally conducive for criminal groups to try to take advantage of the situation for illicit trafficking. We are aware of this and our job is, together with the Government, to prevent these groups from taking advantage of the temporary fragilities of the country”, said Marco Teixeira.
At a time when Mozambique is pointed out by several international organisations as a “corridor for international drug trafficking,” the head of UNODC believes that it is essential to strengthen control, although he admitted difficulties due to the length of the coast, which is over 2,700 kilometres long.
“We continue to work with the authorities that have maritime intervention capacity, but it is always difficult because it is a long coast and this is a phenomenon that happens in different countries. But our job is to continue to fight this illicit trafficking that weakens the country,” stressed Marco Teixeira, who added that the number of seizures and arrests the country has recorded in recent years shows progress.
“More drugs are seized and this means that, on the one hand, the police forces and the State apparatus are able to detect these channels and routes of illicit trafficking. But there is a factor for consideration: if there is an increase in production, whether of heroin, cocaine or synthetic drugs, it is normal that the channels and international flows have more availability of drugs”, he warned.
Authorities in Kenya and Tanzania, countries to the north of Mozambique, have increased vigilance in recent years, pushing traffickers southwards, towards the Mozambican coast, “in search of new routes and new markets”.
