The vehicle was stopped near the Fachi oasis in the heart of the tame desert, located more than 1,600 kilometers from Niamey and 450 kilometers from Agadez.
Le Monde with AFP
The police seized 214 kilos of cocaine in northern Niger and arrested a mayor of this region and his driver who was trying to route the drug into Libya, announced on Wednesday, January 5 the central office for the repression of trafficking illegacy of narcotics (OCRTIS).
The drug seizure Sunday and the mayor and the driver arrested and their vehicle were presented at the press in Niamey where they had been transferred Monday.
The police were “on the track of a quantity of drugs introduced from Mali who was about to be forwarded on Libya,” said Journalists Nana Aïchatou Ousmane Bako, spokesman for the OCRTIS.
The investigation has “enabled seizure on 2 January of 199 cocaine bricks with a total weight of 214.635 kilograms in a vehicle from the Fachi town hall [Nord] on board the mayor traveled” and who who Wrought towards Dirkou, Nigerian locality close to Libya, she added. “This is the first time our country seizes such a large quantity of cocaine,” she said.
Nearly 18 million euros
According to Nana Aïchatou, the drug whose “market value amounted to 11.73 billion CFA francs at resale”, or nearly 18 million euros, was for final destination Europe.
“The government will spare any effort to track drug traffickers,” said Hamadou Adamou Souley, Nigerian Minister from the Interior to attend the press presentation.
Fachi is an oasis in the heart of the Ténéré desert, located more than 1,600 kilometers from Niamey and 450 kilometers from Agadez, the big northern nigerian city. The approximately 2,000 inhabitants of Fachi derive the essentials of their resources of the date and salt trade.
Drug seizures become common in Niger, including the immense desert northern part – especially the Salvador Pass area near the Libya border – is a renowned corridor for drug trafficking, weapons , migrants, and also houses jihadist groups. The United States closely monitor this area through an important dirkou drone base in the Agadez region.
In March 2012, seventeen tons of cannabis resin of a market value of 20 billion FCFA (about 30 million euros) from Lebanon, via the Togolese port of Lomé, had been intercepted in Niger.
And in June 2018, three tons of cannabis resin concealed in crates of fruit and vegetables from the Maghreb and an estimated value of CFA francs (4.5 million euros) had been intercepted in Niamey.