Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz

The Police commissioner  in Mauritania, Sid’Ahmed Ould Taya has been sentenced to seven years in prison for over trafficking of cocaine in the country. Others jailed were a French citizen,15 years, along with five Mauritanians. According to Prosecutors,  the men had tried to build a desert runway to import cocaine. Some of those convicted were sentenced to hard labour and fines, on top of the jail terms. It is alleged they were planning to send hundreds of kilos of cocaine to Europe disguised as a fish shipment.

News reports indicated that a total of 14 people were jailed and 18 acquitted. The Lawyers representing the accused persons say they will appeal, Drug traffickers in South America send cocaine to countries in West Africa on its way to the European market. Because of the weak states of some West African countries and high levels of poverty, drugs cartels often bribe officials to let them operate indiscriminately in the region as most senior officials bend the rules and accept large sums of money as handouts by the drug dealers. This pose a serious security threat in the region and the west is reining in on some of this corrupt governments and are demanding action to be taken.

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