Zimbabwean man held in Vanduzi over a tonne of suruma
Police in Vanduzi, Manica Province, detained a 47-year-old Zimbabwean man accused of trafficking and selling a tonne of cannabis sativa, known as suruma, after he tried to bribe traffic officers with 100,000 meticais. He denies the accusation, saying the drugs belong to a friend in Zimbabwe.
Police in Vanduzi district, Manica Province, are holding a 47-year-old
Zimbabwean man accused of trafficking and selling a tonne of cannabis sativa,
known locally as suruma.[1]The suspect is being held at the district command
of the Republic of Mozambique Police, the PRM, the country’s national police
force.[1]The man is 47 years old.[1]The man tried without success to bribe
traffic police on duty at the Cruzamento de Tete post with 100,000 meticais.[1]
Confronted with the accusation, the man denies it and says the drugs belong to a
friend living in Zimbabwe who called on him to pay the goods’ customs costs.[1]Mário Arnaça, head of the public relations department at the PRM provincial
command in Manica, said the detention followed an intelligence operation by the
Vanduzi district command.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
1
Cannabis
1 t
Agency
Polícia da República de Moçambique (PRM)
Agency type
Police
Activity
Trafficking, Sale
Case stage
Under investigation
Region
Manica
Date
Publication date
Sources
Rádio Moçambiquerm.co.mzPTManica: Detido em Vanduzi cidadão zimbabweano indiciado no tráfico e venda de tonelada de suruma
Open questions the AI reported
The article gives no separate date for the detention; 22 February 2021 is its publication date and is used as the incident date.
The tonne of cannabis sativa is not described by product or condition beyond the stated weight.
The Cruzamento de Tete road post is named, but the account does not say exactly where or when the drugs were found.
No charges, custody decision or court outcome beyond the trafficking accusation were reported.
The suspect is identified only by nationality and age, with no name published.
Only one accessible source for this event was found after searching in Portuguese and English.
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.