Cocaine bust: 3 more arrested
2008-07-17 21:13
Freetown - Police in Sierra Leone have arrested three more foreigners in connection with Sunday's record cocaine seizure in the West African country, bringing the total number of arrests to 61.
Police official Francis Munu told reporters on Thursday that the three additional suspects were from Venezuela, but carried multiple passports.
In total, 11 foreign nationals and 50 Sierra Leoneans have been arrested.
The arrests follow the discovery on Sunday of 600kg of cocaine in an airplane bearing a fake Red Cross emblem at Freetown's International Lungi Airport.
Police said the plane had come from Venezuela, which is a major source of cocaine shipments destined for Europe.
The seizure is a record for Sierra Leone and one of the biggest drugs hauls this year in West Africa.
"We are putting the bits and pieces together to form a story line as to how the plane and its cargo got to Freetown and who aided and abetted the commission of the crime," Munu said.
"So far, we have been able to establish that it is an international criminal conspiracy," he added.
Sierra Leone's Transport and Aviation Minister Kemoh Sesay revealed at the same news conference that one of the key suspects in the case is his brother Mohamed Sesay.
"Whether he is guilty or not, he is my brother and I cannot change that. But the fact of the matter is that he is an adult and I cannot take responsibility," the minister said.