Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Mozambican authorities announced on Monday they seized 28 kilos of heroin in areas controlled by insurgent groups in Cabo Delgado, indicating the presence of trafficking networks.
The drug was part of a total of 250 kilos of narcotics incinerated on Saturday in Pemba, the provincial capital, said the spokesman for the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Cabo Delgado, Angelo Sueta, quoted today by the newspaper O País.
“The Defence and Security Forces seized the heroin in one of the buildings that the terrorists occupied. The owners of the drugs fled during the fighting, but, even so, a criminal case was opened against unknown people,” he said.
The amount seized, “we can understand that it was not for consumption, but trafficking”, added the official.
The province of Cabo Delgado is pointed out by several international reports as a heroin corridor from Asia to Europe and the USA.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Organised Crime (UNODC) has even pointed out the control of trafficking as one of the reasons for the conflict in Cabo Delgado.
The drugs incinerated on Saturday also include 24 kilos of cocaine seized at sea, off Pemba, 179 kilos of ephedrine seized in the Cariaco neighbourhood, Pemba, and 22 kilos of cannabis.
In just one year, the justice authorities incinerated almost a ton of drugs in Cabo Delgado.
The province of Cabo Delgado is rich in natural gas but terrorised since 2017 by armed rebels, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.
The conflict has led to more than 3,100 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, and more than 817,000 displaced people, according to Mozambican authorities.
Since July, an offensive by government troops with the support of Rwanda, later joined by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), allowed to increase security, recovering several areas where there was rebel presence, including the town of Mocímboa da Praia, which had been occupied since August 2020.
