Mandrax factory dismantled in Matola

The Mozambican police and the Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) on Tuesday dismantled a factory producing the illicit drug mandrax in the southern city of Matola.

According to a report in the Maputo daily “Noticias”, during the operation the police arrested two Chinese citizens and two Mozambicans.

Joice Martins, the head of police public relations in Maputo province, told reporters that the factory had been functioning for the past three months and the two Chinese operated the machinery that made the drug.

The factory was disguised as a workshop making maize flour, “but the main activity was producing drugs”, said Martins.

Initial estimates are that there was more than half a tonne of mandrax on the premises, but Sernic is still drawing up a list and identifying all the objects that it found.

The two Chinese refused to speak to the press, but the two Mozambicans claimed they only transported goods and had no idea that the factory was making illicit drugs.

“I’ve been working here for three months”, said one of them. “They (the Chinese) used to send us to places, and we didn’t know what they were doing. When they finished, they rang us up to transport the merchandise”.

It is not yet clear whether the mandrax was to be consumed locally, or was to be exported, probably to South Africa. Nor is it known who are the real owners of the factory.