US embassy cable - 05MAPUTO1586

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 MAPUTO 001586 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR HTREGER 
INL FOR EROESS AND PPRAHAR 
JUSTICE FOR OIA, AFMLS, AND NDDS 
TREASURY FOR FINCEN 
DEA FOR OILS AND OFFICE OF DIVERSION CONTROL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR, KCOR, KCRIM, MZ 
SUBJECT: MOZAMBIQUE: 2005-2006 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS 
CONTROL STRATEGY REPORT (INCRS) -- PART I 
 
REF: STATE 209558 
 
I. Summary 
 
Mozambique is a transit country for illegal drugs such as 
hashish, herbal cannabis, cocaine, mandrax (methaqualone), 
and heroin consumed in Europe and South Africa. Some illicit 
drug shipments passing through Mozambique may also find their 
way to the United States and Canada. The country's porous 
borders, poorly policed seacoast, and inadequately trained 
and equipped law enforcement agencies facilitate 
transshipment of narcotics. Drug production is limited to 
herbal cannabis cultivation and a few mandrax laboratories. 
Available evidence suggests significant use of herbal 
cannabis and limited consumption of "club drugs" 
(ecstasy/MDMA), prescription medicines, and heroin among the 
urban population. The Mozambican government recognizes drug 
use and drug trafficking as serious problems, but has limited 
resources to address these issues. The U.S., the UN Office on 
Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and other donors have established 
cooperation programs to improve training of drug control 
officials and provide better interdiction and laboratory 
equipment. Despite these efforts, drug trafficking 
interdiction performance has improved only slightly in the 
past year. Corruption in the police and judiciary continues 
to hamper counternarcotics efforts as has the elimination of 
visa requirements for South African and Mozambican citizens 
traveling between those two countries. Mozambique is a party 
to the 1988 UN Drug Convention. 
 
II. Status of Country 
 
Mozambique is not a significant producer of illegal drugs. 
Herbal cannabis for local consumption is produced throughout 
the country, particularly in Tete, Manica, and Zambezia 
provinces. Limited amounts are exported to neighboring 
countries, particularly South Africa. There are indications 
that small quantities of a low quality ecstasy are being 
manufactured in Southern Africa, with Mozambique as a 
possible producer. Mozambican authorities took steps during 
the year to reduce local production of mandrax by raiding 
facilities and seizing production equipment.  Mozambique's 
role as a drug-transit country has continued to grow. 
Southwest Asian producers ship cannabis resin (hashish) and 
synthetic drugs through Mozambique to Europe and South 
Africa. Limited quantities of these shipments may also reach 
the United States and Canada. Reports from the Mozambican 
Office for the Prevention and Fight Against Drugs (GCPCD) 
indicate that heroin and other opiate derivatives shipped 
through Mozambique originate in Southeast Asia. Drugs 
cultivated in Southeast Asia then typically transit India, 
Pakistan, or the United Arab Emirates and later Tanzania, 
before arriving by small ship or, occasionally, overland to 
Mozambique. Traffickers are most commonly of Tanzanian or 
Pakistani origin. Increasing amounts of cocaine from the 
Andean region are sent with couriers on international flights 
from Brazil to Mozambique, sometimes via Lisbon, before being 
transported overland to South Africa. Mozambique has become a 
favored point of disembarkation because of its lax airport 
security control. Drug traffickers have recruited many young 
women in Maputo to work as couriers to and from Brazil. 
Mozambique is not a producer of precursor chemicals. 
 
Mozambique has seen growing abuse of heroin among all levels 
of urban populations. The abuse of methaqualone continues to 
be a matter of concern for countries in Southern Africa. 
Methaqualone, which is usually smoked in combination with 
cannabis, continues to enter South Africa from India and 
China, and some shipments of the substances pass through 
Mozambique. Increasing amounts of cocaine from Brazil and 
Colombia are smuggled through Portugal into 
Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa, primarily Angola and 
Mozambique, then into South Africa.  This year's agreement 
between South Africa and Mozambique to drop visa requirements 
has complicated interdiction and enforcement efforts, as 
information on individuals crossing borders has become even 
more limited. 
 
III. Country Actions Against Drugs in 2005 
 
 
MAPUTO 00001586  002 OF 004 
 
 
Accomplishments. Mozambique's accomplishments in meeting its 
goals under the 1988 UN Drug Convention remain limited, 
though drug interdiction efforts have improved over the last 
year. Government resources devoted to the counternarcotics 
effort remain inadequate, and only limited donor funds are 
available. Police and border officials did make some drug 
seizures throughout the year, particularly cocaine from 
Brazil. The Mozambican government carries out drug education 
programs in local schools in cooperation with bilateral and 
multilateral donors as part of its demand reduction efforts. 
 
Law Enforcement Efforts. Mozambique's drug unit operates in 
Maputo and reports to the Chief of the Criminal Investigation 
Police. With assistance from the UNODC, drug detection 
equipment was installed at border posts, ports, and airports 
in 2002 and 2003. In 2004, customs officers at Maputo airport 
and seaport received drug interdiction training under a UNODC 
program. In July 2005, a 57-person specialized police unit 
designed to strengthen efforts to fight organized crime, 
including narcotrafficking, was introduced at airports in 
provincial capitals. In the first nine months of 2005, 
Mozambican authorities seized a total of 29.5 kilograms of 
cocaine at the Beira and Maputo airports. As interdiction 
efforts improve at the Maputo airport, traffickers have been 
forced to identify alternate points of entry, including 
Beira, Nampula, Quelimane and Vilankulos.  Publicized 
seizures in 2005 include: 
 
-- The March seizure of 10 kilograms of cocaine in the 
"Colombia" neighborhood in Maputo city. 
-- The April seizure, at Maputo airport, of 1.8 kilograms of 
cocaine, carried by a 40 year old woman of unknown 
nationality arriving from Brazil. 
-- The May arrest at the Beira airport of a 39 year old 
Mozambican woman arriving from Brazil with 74 capsules of 
cocaine in her stomach. 
-- The June arrest at the Beira airport of a 20 year old 
Mozambican woman arriving from Brazil with 48 capsules of 
cocaine in her stomach. 
-- The seizure of 800 kilograms of cannabis sativa at the 
Changara/Moatize border post. 
 
More than a dozen individuals were reportedly detained at the 
Beira and Maputo airports in connection with drug smuggling 
activities in 2005, most of whom were women caught carrying 
capsules of cocaine in their stomachs from Brazil. It is 
unclear how many of the suspects detained are incarcerated at 
this time. In November, local newspapers reported that two 
Mozambican women caught carrying cocaine from Brazil had been 
sentenced by the Sofala Provincial Court to lengthy prison 
terms for drug trafficking. Since the beginning of the year, 
five such "mules" of Mozambican nationality have died from 
overdoses while carrying cocaine. 
 
Corruption. Corruption is pervasive in Mozambique. However, 
Mozambique has continued efforts to prosecute police and 
customs officials charged with drug trafficking offenses. The 
trial of four officers charged with selling the proceeds of a 
large Pakistani shipment of hashish began in February. In 
September, a Mozambican customs official in Tete province was 
reportedly sentenced to 16 years in prison on drug 
trafficking resulting from a 2004 mandrax smuggling charge. 
The official was accused of unlawfully taking into his 
possession mandrax seized by customs during a routine stop at 
a checkpoint in Tete province. As official policy, Mozambique 
seeks to enforce its laws against narcotics trafficking, but 
as noted above, confronts difficulties in doing so more 
effectively. 
 
Agreements and Treaties. Mozambique is a party to the 1988 UN 
Drug Convention, the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic 
Drugs, as amended by the 1972 Protocol, and the 1971 UN 
Convention on Psychotropic Substances. Mozambique has signed, 
but has not yet ratified, the UN Convention Against 
Transnational Organized Crime and the UN Convention Against 
Corruption. 
 
Cultivation/Production. Cannabis is cultivated primarily in 
Tete, Manica, and Zambezia provinces. The Mozambican 
government has no estimates on crop size. Intercropping is 
 
MAPUTO 00001586  003 OF 004 
 
 
the most common method of production. Mozambican authorities 
have made efforts this year to eradicate cannabis crops 
through controlled burns. 
 
Drug Flow/Transit. Assessments of drugs transiting Mozambique 
are based upon limited seizure data and observations of local 
and UNODC officials. Mozambique increasingly serves as a 
transit country for hashish, cannabis resin, heroin, and 
mandrax originating in Southwest Asia, owing to its long, 
unpatrolled coastline, lack of resources for interdiction and 
sea, air, and land borders, and growing transportation links 
with neighboring countries. Drugs destined for the South 
African and European markets arrive in Mozambique by small 
ship, mostly in the coastal areas in northern Cabo Delgado 
province, but also in Nampula, Sofala, and Inhambane 
provinces. 
 
The Maputo corridor border crossing at Ressano Garcia/Lebombo 
is an important transit point. Hashish and heroin are also 
shipped on to Europe, and some hashish may reach Canada and 
the United States, but not in significant quantities. Arrests 
in Brazil, Mozambique and South Africa indicate cocaine is 
being trafficked by drug couriers from Colombia and Brazil to 
Mozambique, often through Lisbon and Johannesburg, for onward 
shipment to South Africa. In addition, Nigerian and Tanzanian 
cocaine traffickers have targeted Mozambique as a gateway to 
the South African and European markets. 
 
Domestic Programs (Demand Reduction). The primary substances 
of abuse are alcohol, nicotine, and herbal cannabis. Heroin, 
cocaine, and "club drug" usage and prescription drug abuse 
are also reported across Mozambique's urban population. The 
GCPCD has developed a drug education program for use in 
schools and with high risk families; the program includes 
plays and lectures in schools, churches, and other places 
where youths gather. It has also provided the material to a 
number of local NGOs for use in their drug education 
programs. The Mozambican Office for the Prevention and Fight 
Against Drugs (GCPCD) has received some support for community 
policing and demand reduction from bilateral donors. Drug 
abuse and treatment options remain limited with the GCPCD 
providing treatment assistance and reintegration programs for 
approximately 200 families affected by drug addiction in 
2005. 
 
IV. U.S. Policy Initiatives and Programs 
 
Bilateral Cooperation. The USG continues to sponsor 
Mozambican law enforcement officials and prosecutors to 
atend regional training programs through the Interntional 
Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) for Africa in Botswana. Law 
enforcement officials have also received training at ILEA New 
Mexico. The State Department's Bureau for International 
Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) provides support 
to the attorney general's anticorruption unit and the police 
sciences academy (ACIPOL) near Maputo. The funds have 
provided for training, specialized course instruction, 
instructor development, and curriculum development for 
ACIPOL. The anticorruption unit, which began operations in 
November 2002 has received specialized training and advisor 
visits through the Department of Justice OPDAT (Overseas 
Prosecutorial Development Assistance and Training) program. 
In September, the unit was restructured into the Corruption 
Fighting Central Office and received for the first time line 
item funding from the state budget. 
 
The Road Ahead. The U.S. will continue working with ACIPOL to 
provide training and technical assistance, in 2006, in the 
areas of drug identification and investigation, as well as 
other areas of criminal sciences. The U.S. will conduct a 
community policing program in Maputo which will include 
specialized training for police officers and the delivery of 
50 special purpose built bicycles. Technical assistance 
programs at the police academy will focus on methods to 
foster better relations between the community and the police. 
Among other topics, courses provided by technical specialists 
will include drug interdiction. U.S. assistance in support of 
the anticorruption unit will continue in 2006, with plans to 
place a short-term regional legal advisor at the unit for a 
period of six months. The U.S., using INL funds, is working 
 
MAPUTO 00001586  004 OF 004 
 
 
with the Government of the Republic of Mozambique to improve 
its border security efforts. The U.S. is also supporting the 
Mozambican authorities in addressing issues of coastal 
security. 
La Lime