Mozambique has become an important transit center for cocaine, following the same pattern as heroin and methamphetamine, according to a study published by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), and quoted by the newspaper "Carta".

According to the same study, which was published on December 15, the drugs arrive by sea directly from Brazil, mainly "shipments of several tons that arrive in containers unloaded at the ports of Pemba and Nacala",

"The ports of Beira and Maputo are also seeing cocaine arrivals. Shipments also arrive through exchanges offshore from a 'mother ship' to smaller fishing boats, which then transport the cocaine loads to the beaches" in the provinces of Cabo Delgado and Nampula, notes GI- TOC.

The cocaine is transported to warehouses for storage, where it is often repackaged into smaller shipments for distribution by trucks traveling through Nampula.

"Johannesburg is a primary regional destination, as it is home to the City Deep Container Depot and OR Tambo International Airport. Both facilities are notorious for high levels of corruption and as locations from which regular shipments of Mozambican cocaine are transported to markets abroad," reports GI -TOC. (Letter)