The attorney general, Beatriz Buchili, said Tuesday that Mozambique has become a country of consumption in the last three years, warning of a "significant increase" in this type of crime.

"Mozambique used to be a transit [drug] country, but in the last three years we are becoming a consumer country," the Attorney General said during a visit to services in the capital city of Maputo.

Beatriz Buchili warned about the existence of factories producing psychotropic substances in the country, expressing concern about the increase of "one of the crimes that finances terrorism" in Cabo Delgado, a province terrorized by armed violence since 2017.

In October, Mozambican authorities dismantled a factory of 'mandrax', a synthetic drug, in Machava, on the outskirts of Maputo, in one of the largest seizures recorded this year.

"There may be a decrease in crime, but there is a significant increase in impact crimes such as drug trafficking," stressed the attorney general quoted by Lusa.

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