More than 2.5 tonnes of cocaine, heroin and cannabis were seized in Mozambique in 2023, an increase on 2022, valued at 126.5 billion meticals (1.8 billion euros), according to a report by the Public Prosecutor’s Office consulted this Friday, June 7, by Lusa.
The annual report by the Central Office for Preventing and Combating Drugs states that ‘there was a considerable increase in the number of arrests for international drug trafficking in 2023, and that traffickers have continued to seek to use the country to transit drugs to different parts of the world’.
The document points out that cannabis, with 1,823 kilograms seized in the whole year (1,542 kilograms in 2022), continues to be the most trafficked drug, followed by heroin, with 600 kilograms (154.6 kilograms in 2022), and cocaine, with 78.5 kilograms (36.3 kilograms in 2022).
The report values the seizure of these three main drugs alone at a market value of more than 126.5 billion meticals (1.8 billion euros).
“The city of Maputo and the provinces of Manica and Sofala are the ones that have seen the greatest demand for psychiatric and mental health services from consumers of psychoactive substances. However, the profile of patients with mental and behavioural disorders due to the use of psychoactive substances in the country continues to be mostly made up of male patients aged between 21 and 30,’ reads the report, sent to Parliament.
Drugs
In connection with drug consumption and trafficking, 923 people, 64 of them women, were arrested by the police in 2023, a figure that represents a slight reduction on the previous year, with 306 in pre-trial detention and 617 convicted.
According to the report, drug traffickers in Mozambique use the Afghanistan-Pakistan-Pemba-Zambézia-Maputo-South Africa routes for the international trafficking of methamphetamines, heroin and amphetamines. For cocaine, they use the São Paulo-Adis Ababa-Maputo-South Africa route.
Traffickers use suitcases, postal parcels or works of art, among other things, to conceal drugs in Mozambique. During 2023, 423 drug trafficking cases were registered in the country, compared to 372 the previous year, and 336 of these cases involve imprisoned defendants.
