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.
Mozambique’s National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) detained four
people in Pemba, Cabo Delgado, in possession of 14 kilograms of haxixe, or
hashish.[1][2]The four, all nationals, were caught red-handed.[3]The
detention took place on 22 June 2024.[3]The accused deny involvement and say
they were detained unjustly.[3]One said he had only accepted a lift from the
car’s owner to be dropped at his garage.[3]Another, who described himself as
a mechanic, said he had lent the car, gave investigators the owner’s number and
had never opened the car.[3]
Officers intercepted the accused while they were travelling in two vehicles
carrying the drug.[1][2]Both vehicles have been seized.[1][2]SERNIC spokesperson
Sumail Sabila announced the detention at a Wednesday press conference in Pemba.[4][2]He said a case file had already been drawn up and sent to the Attorney
General’s Office for further action.[4]
SERNIC said it had been investigating the detainees for a month, but they had
not revealed the origin or destination of the drugs.[3]Sabila said this was
the second seizure SERNIC had made that year.[4]The owner of the drugs
remains unidentified.[3]
The four deny involvement in the case.[2]SERNIC spokesperson Sumail Sabile said the arrests of the suspected traffickers followed the unit’s intelligence work.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The opened sources name only the city of Pemba, not a neighbourhood or street, so the report uses the city centre with locality precision.
22 June 2024 is used as the incident date from Carta and Club of Mozambique; Radio Mocambique describes the detention only as the previous week.
Radio Mocambique spells the spokesperson's surname Sabina while Carta and Club of Mozambique spell it Sabila; the report uses Sabila.
Vehicle makes, models and registration details were not given in the opened sources and are omitted.
The origin, destination and owner of the hashish were reported as unknown, with investigation continuing.
No court outcome beyond referral of the case file to the Attorney General's Office was reported.
Jornal Notícias uses the spelling Sabile for the SERNIC spokesman, while the report uses Sabila; the report keeps its own spelling.
Jornal Notícias gives no date for the detention, saying only that the suspects were presented to the press on a Wednesday; the report's 22 June 2024 date comes from its other sources.
The page's only image is titled or captioned only detidos, with no caption or credit stating that it shows this seizure, so it is not listed as media.
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.
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.