Seychelles anti-narcotics agency reports $8 million drug seizure

Crest of the NDEA (Seychelles News Agency)

(Seychelles News Agency) - The Seychelles National Drugs Enforcement Agency, the NDEA, has reported what it has termed as the largest ever drug bust in the Indian Ocean archipelago.

The agency intercepted 32 kilograms of what is believed to be heroin, during an operation on Saturday afternoon.

Speaking to SNA in a phone interview on Saturday evening, the NDEA’s Deputy Chief Officer Liam Quinn said the drugs which had “arrived in the country in recent days” were seized in “an open area” at Souvenir, La Misère, a few kilometres south of the Seychelles capital of Victoria.

“This was in an operation that has been ongoing for some time and the NDEA basically mounted a surveillance operation on the basis of information and intelligence gathered by the agency over a period and this resulted in the interception of the drugs,” he said.

Quinn told SNA that the drug has been valued at over $8 million (approximately 112 million Seychelles rupees) adding that the seizure equates to about 10 times the amount of heroin seized by the NDEA in a normal year.

“Two people, one male and one female have been arrested and are currently in custody.”

The two people, both Seychellois nationals, are due to appear in Court on Monday.

"This seizure has dealt a severe blow to a major criminal drug cartel. An investigation has been launched into all the circumstances surrounding the importation and further arrests are anticipated," said the NDEA in a press statement issued this evening.