VZCZCXRO8524
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHTO #1420/01 3070911
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 030911Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY MAPUTO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6345
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MAPUTO 001420 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR HTREGER 
USAID FOR AA/AFR AND AFR/SA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR MZ
SUBJECT: Mozambique - International Narcotics Control 
Strategy Report (INCSR) - Part I 
 
Ref: State 154898 
 
¶I. Summary 
 
¶1. Mozambique is a transit country for illegal drugs such as 
hashish, herbal cannabis, cocaine, mandrax (methaqualone), 
and heroin consumed primarily in Europe and South Africa. 
Some illicit drug shipments passing through Mozambique may 
also find their way to the United States and Canada.  Drug 
production mostly is limited to herbal cannabis cultivation 
and a few mandrax laboratories.  Evidence suggests 
significant use of herbal cannabis and limited consumption 
of "club drugs" (ecstasy/MDMA), prescription medicines, and 
heroin by the country's urban population.  While the 
Mozambican government recognizes drug use and drug 
trafficking as serious issues, the country's porous borders, 
very poorly policed seacoast, and inadequately trained and 
equipped law enforcement agencies compound these problems. 
The United States, 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 in 2005 
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 
 
¶2. Mozambique is not a significant producer of illegal 
drugs.  Herbal cannabis for local consumption is produced 
throughout the country, particularly in Tete, Sofala, and 
Cabo Delgado provinces.  Limited amounts are trafficked to 
neighboring countries, primarily South Africa.  There are 
indications that small quantities of a low quality ecstasy 
are manufactured in southern Africa, with Mozambique as a 
possible producer.  During the year, Mozambican authorities 
continued to raid mandrax facilities and seize production 
equipment.  Mozambique's role as a drug-transit country and 
a favored point of disembarkation continued to grow, mostly 
because of general negligence with respect to airport and 
border security control mechanisms.  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.  Heroin and other opiate derivatives 
shipped through Mozambique usually originate in Southeast 
Asia and typically transit India, Pakistan, the United Arab 
Emirates, and later Tanzania, before arriving by small ship 
or, occasionally, overland to Mozambique.  Many traffickers 
are of Tanzanian or Pakistani origin.  Increasing amounts of 
cocaine from Colombia and Brazil are sent with couriers on 
international flights from Brazil to Mozambique, sometimes 
via Lisbon, before being transported overland to South 
Africa.  In the past, drug traffickers recruited young women 
in Maputo to work as couriers to and from Brazil, but 
because of growing suspicion concerning female passengers on 
these flights, traffickers are now also using men. 
Mozambique is not a producer of precursor chemicals. 
 
¶3. Mozambique has seen growing abuse of heroin among all 
levels of urban populations.  The abuse of mandrax, which is 
usually smoked in combination with cannabis, continues to be 
a matter of concern for countries in southern Africa. 
Shipments of mandrax  continue to enter South Africa from 
India and China, sometimes after passing through Mozambique. 
The 2005 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 2006 
 
¶4. Accomplishments: Mozambique's accomplishments in meeting 
its goals under the 1998 UN Drug Convention remain limited. 
Government resources devoted to the counternarcotics effort 
are meager, and only limited donor funds are available.  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. 
 
¶5. Law Enforcement Efforts: Mozambique's  anti-drug brigade 
operates in Maputo and reports to the Chief of the Criminal 
Investigation Police in the Ministry of Interior.  The 
brigade has few resources at its disposal.  In 2003 UNODC 
donated vehicles, night vision binoculars, and drug 
 
MAPUTO 00001420  002 OF 003 
 
 
detection equipment to the brigade, but most of this 
equipment is in need of repair.  The brigade has not 
received training for several years.  With assistance from 
UNODC, 24 customs officials at the ports of Beira and Nacala 
received training in 2006.  Since July 2005, a 57-person 
specialized police unit designed to strengthen efforts to 
fight organized crime, including narcotics trafficking, has 
operated at airports in provincial capitals.  In September 
2006, Mozambican and Brazilian authorities signed a 
memorandum of understanding on principles, in preparation 
for an eventual extradition agreement for those convicted of 
trafficking drugs between the two countries.  Mozambican 
authorities seized 4,500 kilograms of marijuana in 
Mozambique in 2005.  As interdiction efforts improve at the 
Maputo airport, traffickers have used alternate airports, 
including those of Beira, Nampula, Quelimane and Vilankulos. 
Publicized seizures in 2006 include: 
 
-- The May seizure of one ton of hashish hidden in juice 
containers in a shipment arriving at Maputo port from 
Jamaica. 
 
-- The May arrest of two Kenyan nationals at Maputo airport 
in possession of 100 capsules of cocaine. 
 
-- The June seizure of 99 capsules of cocaine carried by a 
Peruvian women arriving at Maputo airport from Brazil. 
 
-- The September arrest of a South African citizen arriving 
from Lisbon (whose flight originated in Suriname) with at 
least 70 capsules of cocaine in his stomach. 
 
-- The October destruction of 33 kilograms of cocaine, most 
of which had been seized at Maputo airport from drug 
traffickers arriving from Brazil via Lisbon. 
 
¶6. Maputo police arrested 23 people (13 women and 10 men) in 
connection with cocaine trafficking in the first nine months 
of 2006.  Some of the arrested received sentences of between 
6 and 16 years.  On several occasions during the year, 
Mozambican authorities highlighted a general lack of 
resources for destroying seized drugs, particularly hashish, 
cannabis, and cocaine. 
 
¶7. Official 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.  As official policy, Mozambique 
seeks to enforce its laws against narcotics trafficking, but 
as noted above, confronts difficulties in doing so 
effectively.  Mozambique does not, as a matter of government 
policy, encourage or facilitate illicit production or 
distribution of narcotic or psychotropic drugs or other 
controlled substances, or the laundering of proceeds from 
illegal drug transactions.  No senior official in the 
government is known to engage in, encourage, or facilitate 
the illicit production or the laundering of proceeds from 
illegal drug transactions. 
 
¶8. 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.  On September 
20, 2006, Mozambique deposited at the UN its instrument of 
ratification on the UN Convention against Transnational 
Organized Crime.  Mozambique has signed, but not yet 
ratified the UN Convention Against Corruption. 
 
¶9. Cultivation/Production: Cannabis is cultivated primarily 
in Tete, Sofala, and Cabo Delgado provinces.  Intercropping 
is the most common method of production.  The Mozambican 
government has no reliable estimates of crop size. 
Authorities have made efforts in 2006 to eradicate cannabis 
crops through controlled burns. 
 
¶10. 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. 
 
MAPUTO 00001420  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶11. The Maputo corridor border crossing at Ressano 
Garcia/Lebombo is an important transit point to South 
Africa.  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 drug couriers 
trafficked cocaine from Colombia and Brazil to Mozambique, 
often through Lisbon, 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. 
 
¶12. Domestic Programs (Demand Reduction): The primary 
substances of abuse are alcohol, nicotine, and herbal 
cannabis.  The Mozambican Office for the Prevention and 
Fight Against Drugs (GCPCD) reported in 2006 that there was 
also significant use of heroin, cocaine, and psychotropic 
"club drugs," such as ecstasy and mandrax, across 
Mozambique's urban population.  GCPCD coordinates a drug 
prevention and 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.  GCPCD has 
received some support from bilateral donors for community 
policing and demand reduction.  Drug abuse and treatment 
options remain limited; according to the GCPCD, the main 
hospitals in Maputo and Beira, respectively, provide drug 
treatment assistance in partnership with a local NGO. 
 
IV. U.S. Policy Initiatives and Programs 
 
¶13. Bilateral Cooperation: The United States continues to 
sponsor Mozambican law enforcement officials and prosecutors 
to attend regional training programs through the 
International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) for Africa in 
Botswana.  Law enforcement officials have also received 
training at ILEA in New Mexico.  The United States has 
supported the police sciences academy (ACIPOL) near Maputo, 
by providing training and technical assistance in the areas 
of drug identification and investigation, as well as other 
areas of criminal sciences.  Technical assistance programs 
at the police academy focus on methods to foster better 
relations between the community and the police.  Among other 
topics, courses provided by technical specialists include 
courses on drug interdiction.  In 2006 the United States 
delivered 50 special purpose bicycles and trained bicycle 
patrol police for a pilot community policing program.  USAID 
provides training support to the Attorney General's Central 
Office for the Combat of Corruption (GCCC), formerly the 
anticorruption unit. 
 
¶14. The Road Ahead: U.S. assistance in support of the GCCC 
will continue in 2007, with plans to place a short-term 
regional legal advisor at the unit for a period of six 
months through the Department of Justice Overseas 
Prosecutorial Development Assistance and Training program. 
Additionally, plans are underway to improve Mozambique's 
border security capabilities.  A Department of Homeland 
Security border assessment team visited Mozambique in 
October.  This assessment visit will be followed by the 
provision of mainly communication equipment, along with 
technical training, to boost Mozambican border control 
capabilities.  Also, US funding is expected in the near 
future to purchase shallow draft vessels for limited coastal 
security work. 
 
Raspolic