The Cabo Delgado provincial court in northern Mozambique, sitting in the provincial capital, Pemba, on Tuesday sentenced 11 Pakistani nationals to between ten and 19 years imprisonment for drug trafficking. A wooden dhow, that had set sail from the Pakistani province of Baluchistan laden with illicit drugs, was intercepted in the Bay of Pemba in a joint operation between the Mozambican navy and the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) on 23 December last year.
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 (crystal meth). It is assumed that larger quantities were on board and were lost when the boat sank.
The judge, Bruno de Castro, delivering his verdict and sentence, said that the 75 year old Pakistani had organized the trafficking, and had needed the other accused simply to move the cargo from one boat to another.
But the accused did not say who owned the drugs, or what the final destination was to have been. For many years, Mozambique has been used as a corridor by drug traffickers. Heroin, and now crystal meth, is shipped from Asia and landed on the Mozambican coast. The drugs are then driven overland to South Africa, and from there some of them are believed to reach Europe. The prosecuting attorney, Angelo Sueta, welcomed the lengthy prison sentences, which he described as “a victory for the Public Prosecutor’s Office in this struggle against crime, and particularly against drug trafficking”. The 11 Pakistanis were also found guilty of membership of a criminal organization. The judge announced that, after they have served their sentences, they will be expelled from the country. The defence lawyer refused to speak to the media.
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