Nampula province, in the north of the country, continues to be used as a drug distribution hub by organized groups of traffickers linked to international drug trafficking networks.

Speaking at the opening of the 2024 Judicial Year, the presiding judge of the Nampula Judicial Court, Ana Paula Muanheue, explained that the province of Cabo Delgado is a transit point for illicit drugs, which then flow overland to the city of Nampula, the distribution center for strategic destinations.

"Mozambique's most populous province, Nampula, has long since become a veritable corridor for the million-dollar drug trade, which enters through the coastal districts," the presiding judge said on Thursday.

Quoted by AIM, the magistrate also noted that "the trade routes for illicit goods are vast and globalized: they are produced in one country, trafficked across one or more borders and marketed in one or more final destinations," adding that given the current phenomenon of the internationalization of drug trafficking in Mozambique and the sharp increase in this crime, prevention and combating it have become a new challenge in the country's security paradigm.

"Mozambique is not a producer of most of the drugs that are seized in inspections carried out at other points of entry into the country. It doesn't produce cocaine, heroin, hashish or opium, but its geographical location and vast land borders make it a transit point for the illicit movement of these drugs. However, the only internationally controlled drug that is produced and controlled in the country is cannabis sativa," he said.

The judge says that the sector is justifiably concerned about this reality, since there are large gaps in knowledge about how drug markets operate at global, regional and local level, and that the sector must therefore incorporate these threats as a factor in conflict prevention and analysis strategies, and in integrated mission assessment and planning.

"Our strategy for combating drug trafficking must involve identifying the real owners of the drugs that are seized. Furthermore, in preventing and combating drug trafficking we cannot simply limit ourselves to investigation and theoretical components, we must also opt for the deployment of physical force and preventive and repressive structures in such matters and, with the help of international cooperation, dismantle the main nests," he concluded.