Angolan detainee who smuggled drugs from Brazil to Angola and Namibia

A 40-year-old Angolan citizen, suspected of smuggling cocaine from Brazil to Angola and who was later also sent to Namibia, was arrested, the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) in Luanda announced this Wednesday.

Considered “the queen of drugs”, the SIC said that the detainee is the woman who “presumably introduced more drugs into Angolan and Namibian territory” and that she had as an accomplice her husband, a 40-year-old Nigerian citizen, who was also detained.

According to police authorities, the trafficking scheme was directed from the couple's residence, in the Angolan municipality of Cazenga, one of the most populous in Luanda, and from Brazil they provided the coordinates, in collaboration with other members of the group.

The drug was introduced into the aircraft of TAAG, the Angolan state carrier, and withdrawn at the 4 de Fevereiro international airport in Luanda, with the collaboration of employees of Ghassist, a company that provides services to TAAG, who have already been detained.

"The couple's arrest follows the ongoing investigations, which culminated in the arrest of eight Ghassist employees and one more individual, who, through a properly designed scheme, facilitated the introduction of drugs into aircraft from Brazil" , said today the SIC spokesman, Manuel Halaiwa.

Speaking to journalists, the superintendent of criminal investigation noted that in the course of the investigations "the couple has been repeatedly cited as recruiters and recipients of drugs taken from the interior of the aircraft."

According to the same source, the detainee has a criminal record, namely “two criminal cases registered in 2014 and 2015”. At least 11 people, including the couple and Ghassit employees, members of this drug trafficking network are already in detention.