24 June 2009
Maputo — The Mozambican police announced on Tuesday that they have arrested members of the illegal security force established by the former rebel movement Renamo.
The spokesperson for the general command of the police, Pedro Cossa, told reporters that the men were arrested last week in the northern port of Nacala. He said they had been involved in attacks against voter registration brigades in the city, but gave no further details.
The Renamo force (known as the "Presidential Guard") was also responsible for an attempted assassination attempt against Daviz Simango, mayor of Beira, and head of the rival Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) in Nacala on 9 June. It is not clear whether anybody has yet been arrested in connection with this attack.
As for recent discoveries of the drug hashish at coastal localities in southern Mozambique, Cossa said that about 100 packages of hashish had appeared floating in the water off the district of Inhassoro, in Inhambane province. The police suspect that the boat carrying the drug sank in the Mozambique Channel. Cossa said investigations are under way to try and confirm this.
Further south, the police discovered a consignment of hashish buried on Chonguene beach in Gaza province. The police still do not know who the owners of the drug are. In all there were 127 packages of the drug varying in weight between 20 and 30 kilos. If these police figures are accurate, then the hashish does not weigh the one tonne mentioned earlier this week, but at least two and a half tonnes.
The Maputo daily "Noticias" reports that more of the drug must have come ashore at Chonguene, because a further 30 kilos was recovered from local people on Monday. They had picked up the drug believing it was some kind of putty they could use in construction activities.
Cossa also reported that two recently recruited policemen, working in central Maputo, have been detained after they were found trying to extort a bribe of 2,000 meticais (about 75 US dollars) from a woman. Disciplinary proceedings are under way, said Cossa, and the two men would later be formally expelled from the police.
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