According to the information sent to Lusa, up until Friday 17 March, 20.20 tons of narcotics were seized, thus surpassing, in less than three months, the total of drugs seized by the Maritime Police and the Navy throughout 2022, a year in which 16.52 tons of drugs were seized, especially hashish and cocaine.

The drug seized since the beginning of this year exceeds by almost four tons the total of the previous year and represents four times more than the amount of narcotics that were seized in 2021, when there was the seizure of only 5.14 tons.

AMN records also point to a record level of people arrested or identified this year, which amounts to 31, when in 2022 they did not go beyond the six people arrested or identified on suspicion of drug trafficking. In 2021, the arrest or identification of only three people were reported.

The fight against drug trafficking has also been visible in the seizure of high-speed vessels, with the AMN adding that 13 speedboats had already been seized in the first months of 2023, almost as many as the 15 that the Maritime Police (in collaboration with the Navy) seized during 2022. The 2023 record nearly triples the number of high-speed craft seized in 2021: five.

Most of the actions to combat drug trafficking have occurred in the south of the continental territory, and the seized narcotics were later handed over to the Judiciary Police (PJ), which is the criminal police agency with competence in this area.

The AMN also clarified that the fight against drug trafficking has mobilized resources of the Maritime Police and the Navy, but also counting on some occasions with the support of the Air Force and the PJ.