The Mozambiquan police have arrested two people found with 25-kilogrammes of the illegal drug ephedrine in their cars, according to a report in the Maputo daily Noticias, according to news agency AIM.
Ephedrine has a similar chemical structure to amphetamines, and can be used to create methamphetamine. It is thus in great demand among illicit drug dealers as a precursor for the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine.
The two men, named as A Buque and B Massave, were arrested at Ressano Garcia, on the border with South Africa. They were using two cars, and the police found the drug hidden in the spare tyres, and in new sheets, which the two were supposedly going to sell.
According to the spokesperson of the Maputo provincial police command, Joao Machava, the drug had come from India, and Buque and Massave were taking it to South Africa.
Buque and Massave are currently in the Maputo top security prison, and the case has entered the Maputo Provincial Court. Machava believed that the two traffickers are members of a much wider criminal network, and investigations are under way to track down and arrest its other members.
