Benin police arrest 4 alleged traffickers with 54 kg cocaine

One Indian-Pakistan and three Benin nationals have been arrested as suspected in trafficking 54 kg of cocaine from Brazil, source close to the police on Thursday told Xinhua here in the economic capital Cotonou.

According to the source, the four alleged traffickers were arrested on Wednesday in connection with 54 kg of cocaine that Police discovered on Monday in a sugar filled container in Cotonou autonomous Port.

"Another Indian-Pakistan national is on the run" and is actively sought, the same source close to the Inquiry committee set up for the case said.

On Tuesday, Public Prosecutor Badirou Lawani disclosed the discovery of 48 packets weighing a total of 54 kg in a container filled with sugar from Brazil on Monday in the Port of Cotonou.

"The first tests undertaken concluded that it was cocaine," Badirou Lawani said during press conference in the economic capital Cotonou.

"Analyses are in progress at the level of the national lab of narcotics and toxicology so as to confirm the real nature of the product," he added.

"This situation challenges all of us," Lawani underscored.

Public Prosecutor ensured that Benin Justice will play its role in the effective repression of that form of criminality, as the West African region is at the heart of a growing triangular trade of drug. Endit