Mozambican rapper Azagaia held 48 hours with 4 g of suruma, freed to face trial
Mozambican police detained rapper Azagaia in Maputo on 30 July 2011 with four grams of suruma, the local name for cannabis, hours before he was due to launch a video. He was held about 48 hours and released on an identity and residence term to answer a possession and consumption charge at liberty.
🇲🇿 Maputo · Mozambique
·
Arrested
1
Cannabis
4 g
Agencies
Polícia da República de Moçambique, Polícia de Investigação Criminal
Mozambican rapper Azagaia was detained on Saturday 30 July 2011, the day he was
to present the video “A Minha Geração” from his new album Aza-leaks, Lusa
reported.[1]Azagaia was held by the Polícia da República de Moçambique hours
before he was to launch one of his albums and was released to answer to the case
at liberty.[2]
The city police command’s spokesman, Arnaldo Chefo, said officers intercepted
the rapper with four grams of suruma, the local name for cannabis sativa, in his
car during the weekend.[1]The rapper was accused of possessing and consuming
narcotics after a Polícia de Investigação Criminal team allegedly found four
grams of cannabis sativa in his vehicle.[2]VOA Português reported the find as
three small balls of suruma weighing about three to four grams.[2]
Azagaia spent about 48 hours in police custody, first at the 12th PRM station
and then at the 6th station, where he was transferred for the weekend.[2]He
was released on an identity and residence term on Monday 1 August, meaning he
would answer to the case at liberty, his lawyer Salvador Kamate confirmed.[1]VOA Português reported on 2 August that he had been released and would stand
trial at liberty.[2]
Azagaia denied the police account, and Lusa reported that the detention drew a
wave of reactions from fans, some accusing officers of forging evidence.[1]In
a statement the same day he thanked his supporters and said he had slept two
nights on the floor.[1]Global Voices described him as one of Mozambique’s
brightest and most polemical hip-hop musicians, followed by the authorities
since he began using his songs for social intervention.[3]
Photos and video
Portrait of the Mozambican rapper Azagaia, published with the VOA Português report that he was awaiting trial in freedom. Photo: VOA PortuguêsPhoto details
Sources give the quantity as four grams, or as three to four grams in three small balls of suruma; the report uses four grams.
The submitted VOA report gives no date for the detention; Lusa places it on Saturday 30 July 2011, which is used here.
No charge sheet, court date or outcome is reported in these sources; whether the case was ever tried is unknown.
Lusa says city police intercepted him before he was transferred to the cells of the Polícia de Investigação Criminal, while VOA attributes the find itself to a PIC team; both accounts are reported as given.
Global Voices' English post is a translation of a Jornal @Verdade text, so that account is not independent reporting.
No value estimate, plant count or supply context was reported, so only the weight and one arrest are recorded.
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.
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.