Mozambique: The drug crossroad

The British NGO Chatham House said that Mozambique has become an international drug trafficking hub. It is a crossroad between the producing countries of Latin America and Asia, and Europe consumers.

After heroin, the Mandrax and the marijuana in the 80s, cocaine is transiting now by this southern African country. The report is based on the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), the UK’s Department for fight against organised crime. Different types of drugs pass through Mozambique. The heroin, produced in East Asia, comes by air to Mozambique from Pakistan, via Dubai and Tanzania, where it is stored and shipped to Europe by boats. The Cocaine would arrive by plane from Colombia through Brazil and then would go to the European countries. According to Chatham House, some traffickers use “mules” – smugglers carrying drugs in their luggage or their stomachs. Others rely on influent Mozambicans in the business circles close to the government. Cannabis is produced locally, and Mandrax, from India, go directly to the neighbouring South Africa to be consumed. Mozambique has become an attractive destination for drug traffickers in the late 1990s. The long civil war ended (1975-1992), the communications took over and opened an alternative path to the traditional West Africa passage, less accessible to international monitoring bodies. According to Chatham House, the geography of Mozambique is suitable for traffic, and experts think that the rich countries should allow more resources to developing countries to fight against drug trafficking. That would cost them less money to combat the problem at the source than fighting against the drug dealers on their lands. «The drugs are produced elsewhere but consumed in the U.S. and Europe.