Nampula governor denounces death threats

Maputo, 1 Jun (AIM) – The governor of the northern Mozambican province of Nampula, Eduardo Abdula, has denounced that he is being victim of death threats carried out by drug traffickers.

According to the governor, speaking on Friday on the sidelines of a ceremony in which he was handing over medicines to Nampula Central Hospital, groups linked to drug trafficking have been intimidating him and the teams leading the fight against drug trafficking in the province.

“They are sending threatening messages again to the teams on the front line. Ladies and gentlemen, if you’re listening wherever you are, I couldn’t care less about you. When you decide to come after me, I ask only one thing: don’t mess up, so as not to give me any trouble, because I’ll catch you one by one”, he said.

Abdula promised to pursue the criminals and hold them accountable for their actions. “I swear I won’t finish this term without stopping you. I’m not afraid of you. In this province, of which I am governor, stop selling drugs. I will be your nightmare, I will be the devil incarnate to you. I won’t let you off the hook until the very last day, until my last breath”, he said.

The governor also called on the population to avoid being involved in drug trafficking “because criminals have the capacity to exploit us.” “We must advise our children who take drugs and tell them that they are being exploited by crooks and criminals”, he said.

In recent years, Nampula has seen a rise in drug sales and use. The province is a recipient and trafficking route for synthetic drugs, which are shipped on the high seas in small boats and transported to other parts of the country and to South Africa.

Over the last years, the country’s Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) seized a tonne of various types of illicit drugs in the trafficking circuit in Nampula.

Am/