More than 200 kilograms 440 pounds of cocaine were seized from a vehicle belonging to the mayor of a small town in the country's north, the government said Wednesday.
Nearly 200 bricks of cocaine were arrested in Agadez on the weekend from the official vehicle of the mayor of Fachi, a trading center about 400 kilometers 250 miles north of Agadez, according to a statement from the Central Office for the Repression of Illicit Drug Trafficking.
The statement said that European Union agents are also involved in the smuggling and officials are pursuing another suspect who is believed to be involved in the smuggling.
The recurrent drug seizures speak volumes about the reality of the phenomenon in Niger. Souleymane Mahamadou, a worried Niger citizen, said this does not reassure citizens terrorists live off the criminal economy. There is more reason to be concerned when political figures become involved in this trafficking. Drug seizures in West Africa have indicated that international traffickers have made the continent an intermediary hub for smuggled drugs between South America and Europe.
In October, Senegal s navy seized more than 2 tons of cocaine from a ship.