Two held in Maputo with 48 kg of suruma hidden in bundles of used clothes
Mozambique's Republican Police detained two people, one Mozambican and one Tanzanian, with 48 kilograms of cannabis sativa, known as suruma, packed into bundles of used clothes and bound for Tanzania. A Maputo police spokesperson said the haul was part of a larger trafficking network and that investigations were continuing.
🇲🇿 Maputo · Mozambique
·
Arrested
2
Cannabis
48 kg
Agencies
Polícia da República de Moçambique (PRM), Serviço Nacional de Investigação Criminal (SERNIC)
Mozambique’s Republican Police (PRM) detained two people, one Mozambican and one
Tanzanian, with about 50 kilograms of cannabis sativa, known locally as suruma.[1]The drug was hidden in bundles of used clothes and was bound for Tanzania.[1]Officers seized 45 small bundles totalling 48 kilograms of the drug.[1]The operation ended at the Mozambican suspect’s home, where the drug was being
packed into clothing sacks to mislead the authorities.[1]
The suspect said this was the third time he had made this kind of run but that
on the earlier trips he did not know he was carrying drugs, believing it to be
humanitarian aid.[1]He was detained after being contacted by agents of the
National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC).[1]
PRM spokesperson in Maputo Marta Pereira said the case belonged to a larger
trafficking network and that the amount seized was only a fraction of it.[1]She said investigations were continuing to catch more people involved.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
2
Cannabis
48 kg
Agencies
Polícia da República de Moçambique (PRM); Serviço Nacional de Investigação Criminal (SERNIC)
The article gives no separate date for the detention; 1 October 2024 is its publication date and stands in as the incident date.
The headline and lead say about or almost 50 kilograms, while the body gives 45 bundles totalling 48 kilograms; the report uses 48 kilograms.
Only the city of Maputo is named; the article does not say where in the city the suspect's residence is.
No charges, prosecutions or court outcome were reported; the case was at the investigation stage.
Only one source, a Carta de Moçambique report, could be opened for this arrest; no police statement or second outlet account was found.
The suspects' names, ages and nationalities beyond Mozambican and Tanzanian were not published.
The article recalls an unrelated June police seizure of drugs hidden in deodorants and 1.4 tonnes of cocaine hidden in sweets; that is a different event and is left out.
SERNIC detained four Mozambican nationals in Pemba on 22 June 2024 with 14 kg of hashish found in two vehicles. The case has been sent to the Attorney General's Office while the accused deny involvement and the drug's origin remains unknown.
Police in Chimoio, Manica province, detained four people aged 25 to 45, two of them women, and found 14 kg of cannabis sativa, locally called soruma. The officers said the group tried to bribe them with 21,000 meticais, and the file was sent to the Public Prosecutor's Office with a separate corruption case.
SERNIC officers in Sofala detained two FADM soldiers in Manga, Beira, seizing one kilogram of cannabis sativa known locally as suruma and intended for Dondo. The men, aged 29 and 32, were held for legal proceedings while police searched for their supplier.
Police in Marínguè district, Sofala, detained a farmer found with 300 kg of cannabis sativa, known as suruma. The drug-combat office said he supplied much of Beira's cannabis and that the seizure would be incinerated the following week.