Drugs: fighting a rising tide

Good afternoon. This may turn out to be a record year for drugs seizures in Mozambique, judging by events last month. On Thursday, authorities say they seized 120 boxes containing cocaine disguised as sweets that had been flown in from Brazil. The cargo had a gross weight of 1.4 tonnes; even allowing for the packaging, this may be the largest single seizure of drugs yet in Mozambique.

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Zitamar NewsTom Gould

From the Zitamar Live Blog:

Zitamar Mozambique Live Blog

The judgement from the London ‘mega-trial’ over Mozambique’s disputed offshore security contracts with shipbuilder Privinvest will be handed down on 17 July, the judge said today. The judgement has been delayed by several days in the light of a letter sent to the judge last Friday by Mozambique. Mozambique’s finance minister Max Tonela is to make an announcement regarding the case at 5pm Maputo time today. Last Thursday, Zitamar revealed that Mozambique had agreed to settle the claims of Russian bank VTB and Portuguese bank BCP.

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The intensification of enforcement action probably reflects both external pressure, from the United States government (specifically the Drug Enforcement Agency) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, to crack down on the flow of drugs that passes through the country, as well as concern within the government about the risk of increasing domestic drug consumption.