Seychelles takes on international drug cartel
English.news.cn 2011-07-01 19:37:12FeedbackPrintRSS
VICTORY, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in Seychelles have made significant inroads in breaking the back of a locally-based drug cartel with connections with other countries of the Indian Ocean rim, the country's anti-drug agency said on Friday.
The National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDEA), together with the police and custom services earlier this week arrested a 48-year- old Kenyan woman with a substantial amount of heroine.
The arrest led to that of 125 locals as well as some Seychelles nationals in Dubai by authorities in the United Arab Emirates, all connected with that cartel.
One NDEA official told Xinhua on Friday that with this week's arrests, they seized heroine with a market value of 209,000 U. S. dollars, although they had not yet dismantled the cartel.
The fight against drugs is a top priority of the government of President James Michel, who won re-election in May on the pledge to undertake a social revolution to rid the Indian Ocean archipelago of its social ills.
Drug-trafficking is a lucrative business for some cartels and drug lords as the inhabitants of the islands have a high standard of living (its annual income per capita is 7, 000 dollars), which provides the money, sometimes through theft, to fuel the demand for the illegal substance.