Ethiopian Informer
ADDIS ABABA: November 18 (EI) — The Ethiopian Ministry of Revenue on Monday announced the seizure of 474-kilograms of cannabis in a major drug bust.
The reported 474-kg of cannabis was seized last week in Ethiopia’s northwestern Humera town while it was being smuggled to neighboring Sudan in the back of a freight vehicle, ERCA disclosed on Monday.
Head of Humera Area Branch at the ministry, Melese Yimam, told state-run news agency ENA that the 474-kg cannabis was seized inside the freight truck just four kilometers away from the Sudanese border.
Ethiopian security forces and ERCA staff had been trailing for some time the fright truck, before seizing it with the illicit cannabis consignment.
Yimam, noting that the smugglers were hiding the drug below a consignment of food and edible oil products the freight truck was originally intended to transport, also said that police is currently on the manhunt for the driver of the freight truck and his assistant who disappeared shortly before the drug bust.
In recent years, Ethiopia has toughened its anti-illegal drug laws with major crackdown on individuals trading in illegal drugs.
Meanwhile, Ethiopian authorities also on Saturday arrested five Brazilian nationals over an alleged attempt to smuggle in excess of 47-kg of cocaine to different countries in transit via the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport.
The five suspects were attempting to smuggle 47-kg of cocaine from Brazil to the Rwandan capital Kigali, South Africa’s Johannesburg, and Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, it was noted.
