Airport swoop nets 1.5kg heroin haul |09 May 2009

The drug seizure took place in early April after NDEA sniffer dogs alerted their handlers to a package containing the heavily disguised heroin.

A search of the package unearthed the largest amount of heroin discovered by the NDEA so far this year. Several people were then interviewed, and one man was taken into custody.

Investigations connected to the seizure are continuing, and the NDEA has delayed issuing further information to avoid compromising the ongoing case.

Continued surveillance of the airport and notable heroin seizures there in 2007 are believed to have forced drug traffickers to look for alternative routes into Seychelles, a measure that has been countered by increased NDEA activity along other potential import routes.

In a separate incident in mid-April, NDEA officers raided an address in Le Rocher which resulted in the confiscation of 138g of heroin and the arrest of a number of suspects. Investigations are continuing.

Ongoing NDEA work has resulted in around 40 smaller amounts of heroin being confiscated since March this year, as community policing, intelligence gathering and coordinated operations alongside other stakeholder groups has bolstered the fight against illegal drug trafficking.

The NDEA has been working closely with local residents in areas especially hard hit by the problem of illegal drug use to gather intelligence and focus their counter-drug efforts on operations that will achieve the greatest community benefit.

The agency’s intelligence-led operations focus primarily on the main illicit drug traffickers in a bid to curb the drug problem by blocking the entry of illegal drugs into Seychelles at source.

The NDEA can be contacted in confidence with any information about drug trafficking, on 781450.