Maputo, 22 Feb (AIM) – The Indian authorities have detained Ana Massuanganhe, the personal assistant to Mozambique’s Deputy Justice Minister, Filimao Suaze, on charges of drug trafficking.
Cited in Thursday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”, Suaze confirmed the detention, but said he had few details on the matter. He said Massuanganhe had been detained on 8 January when she was found at Delhi airport in possession of an unspecified amount of illicit drugs.
“I confirm the report. The information is true”, said Suaze. “This citizen has been detained in India, suspected of transporting a product which is assumed to be drugs”.
The information reached the Ministry of Justice via the Mozambican Foreign Ministry, which had been alerted by the Mozambican embassy in India.
“There are no further developments”, said Suaze. “We are waiting to know when she will be tried, or if she has made any confession”.
A detailed account of Massunganhe’s journey to India has appeared on Facebook. According to this version, she travelled from Mozambique to India, in the company of a Nigerian boyfriend (whose name was not given).
They separated in South Africa, with the Nigerian promising that he would catch a later plane and meet up with her in New Delhi.
But when she landed, the Indian authorities inspected her luggage and found the drugs. There was no sign of the Nigerian boyfriend. Her only defence is that the Nigerian slipped the drugs into her suitcase without her knowledge.
There is no way of checking the veracity of this story.
(AIM)
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