Maputo, 27 Feb (AIM) – Mozambique’s Central Office for the Fight against Organised and Transnational Crime (GCCCOT) has announced that it is charging seven people with drug trafficking, in connection with a factory producing the illicit drug mandrax, which was dismantled by the Mozambican police in June 2022.
The seven were caught red-handed in a house in Infulene, a neighbourhood in the southern city of Matola.
According to a report in Monday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Carta de Mocambique”, the seven were members of a criminal group dedicated to the production, storage and sale of drugs.
Five of the accused are Mozambican citizens. The GCCCOT statement did not give the nationality of the other two.
They are charged with drug trafficking, the undue use of equipment, materials and precursors, money laundering and criminal conspiracy.
According to the GCCCOT the group trafficked the drugs between Mozambique and other countries, notably South Africa.
They used the money from this illicit trade to acquire vehicles, houses and other properties. The prosecutors have seized nine luxury houses in up-market neighbourhoods of Maputo and Matola, 27 light and heavy vehicles, seven trailers, one motor boat, two jet skis, four motorcycles, and 134 refrigerators, as well as assorted equipment used to produce the mandrax.
The Central Asset Recovery Office is continuing to investigate the financial situation of the seven suspects.
The charges against the seven have been sent to the Maputo Provincial Court, which must set the date for a trial.
(AIM)
Pf/ (253)
