Guinea seizes 1.5 tonnes of cocaine on Sierra Leone-flagged ship

Guinea seizes 1.5 tonnes of cocaine on Sierra Leone-flagged ship

 

Guinea seized more than 1.5 tonnes of cocaine from a Sierra Leone-flagged ship.

The cocaine was found in the hold of a vessel boarded by the navy during a routine patrol on Sunday, according to an army statement.

The ship’s crew was made up of four Sierra Leoneans, three Ghanaians and three Guineans.

Authorities handed over the cocaine and crew members to prosecutors in Conakry, the capital, where investigations into the incident are ongoing, the statement added.

West and Central Africa have long been key transit hubs in the global cocaine trade, with local drug consumption increasing in recent years, according to a report published last year by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Between 2019 and 2022, at least 57 tons of cocaine were seized in or en route to West Africa, according to the report.



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