The National Criminal Investigation Service of Mozambique (SERNIC) arrested last Friday, in the city of Beira, a businessman of Nigerian origin indicted for the crime of drug trafficking, announced an official source.

"This citizen, of Nigerian origin, is a businessman of the square who is engaged in the sale of cosmetics throughout the central region," Lurdes Cuchama, SERNIC spokesperson in the central province of Sofala, told the media in the city of Beira.

"His arrest was made following an anonymous tip, which described that the accused was keeping drugs at his residence. Diligences carried out by SERNIC made possible the seizure of the drug," he added.

At the businessman's residence, authorities seized 536 grams of cannabis, an unspecified amount of cocaine, and a "drug crushing machine," according to SERNIC, which does not rule out the possibility that there are others involved in this type of crime in the central region.

International organizations place Mozambique in the path of several drug trafficking routes, mainly originating in Asia and crossing the Indian Ocean.