DRUG TRAFFICKERS

The Mozambican police have arrested three Nigerians, one South African and a Mozambican, accused of belonging to an international network of traffickers of cocaine. According to the spokesperson for the Maputo City Police Command, Leonel Muchina, cited in Tuesday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Carta de Mocambique”, the five alleged drug traffickers were detained in the outer Maputo neighbourhood of Albasine, after a tip-off from members of the public. When the group was arrested, they were involved in a bitter dispute. They were threatening the supposed receiver of the drug, one of the Nigerians. He had received eight kilos of cocaine, with an estimated value of 18 million meticais (about 243,000 US dollars, at current exchange rates). The final destination of the drug was South Africa.

But the Nigerian was supposedly trying to swindle the other members of the gang, and so they went to Maputo in an attempt to recover the drug. They hired a Mozambican, promising to pay him 50,000 meticais to identify the house where the Nigerian was living – 28,000 to be paid at once, and the other 22,000 once the drugs had been recovered. Something went badly wrong. The Mozambican spy said he located the house used by the Nigerian, but was then caught and tortured – including firing a bullet beside his ear. The noise drew the attention of the neighbours who contacted the police. At the police station, one of the traffickers who came to Mozambique to recover the drug confessed his part in the crime. But the supposed receiver denied all involvement, and said he had never received any cocaine. The National Immigration Service (SENAMI) said the Nigerians had entered the country illegally, and would be expelled from Mozambique – but only after standing trial for the crimes of drug trafficking and the illegal possession of firearms.