Flights From Ethiopia, Tanzania And Brazil Pose Highest Drug Trafficking Risk

By Jorge Joaquim

The flights trafficking the most drugs into Mozambique are from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, and São Paulo in Brazil, according to the spokesman for the Tax Authority, Fernando Tinga.

Other routes of concern are those that link the Asian continent to Mozambique, particularly flights that pass through Pakistan, China and India, Tinga said at a presentation of a report on drug trafficking by the Central Office for the Prevention and Fight against Drugs.

The National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) seized several types of drugs throughout the country in the year 2022, worth more than MZN126m.

According to SERNIC inspector, Augusto Bambo, the drugs mentioned include methamphetamine, heroin, and others that are produced in the horn of Africa countries (Ethiopia and Somalia), where consumption is not punishable.

He said that in terms of quantities, 1,542 kilos of cannabis sativa (known as soruma) had been seized in 2022 as compared to 3,348 kilos in 2021, which represents a reduction of 1,806 kilos, or 46%.

"As for heroin, in the year 2022, there was the seizure of 154 kilos and in the previous year there was seizure of 759 kilos. Therefore, there was a reduction of 605 kilos, which corresponds to 79 per cent," he said, according to AIM.

In terms of cocaine, 36 kilograms were learnt in the same period as compared to 42 kilograms the previous year, a reduction of just over 6 kilograms, or a 14 percent reduction.

Bambo also explained that the ultimate aim of all drugs seized is incineration, based on a court order.