Maputo, 15 Oct (AIM) – Mozambican President Daniel Chapo has pledged to intensify the fight against drug trafficking and consumption, with particular focus on protecting schools from drug networks targeting children and adolescents.
Speaking on Wednesday in Maputo, at the opening of the National Conference on Drug Prevention and Control, held under the motto “Drug prevention and control: new trends, challenges and innovative responses”, Chapo challenged the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), the courts, the Defence and Security Forces and the National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) to identify and dismantle drug-selling and consumption points, commonly known as “drug dens”.
He said those involved must be held accountable and subjected to the criminal penalties provided for by law. “But it is the school that is now my deepest concern. Schools should be temples of knowledge and safe havens for our sons and daughters, but they are being targeted by drug networks”, he said.
He described child protection as a constitutional imperative and a fundamental duty of the Mozambican State, pledging a firm response to threats posed by drug networks to schools and young people.
Chapo also warned that criminal organizations were increasingly using new technologies, digital platforms and electronic payment systems to expand and conceal their operations.
The President explained that the emergence of new psychoactive substances and the growing number of consumers, including minors, required more preventive, coordinated and strategic responses.
Chapo also expressed particular concern over the entry and circulation of highly harmful drugs, especially cocaine and heroin, saying the illegal market was no longer limited to the transit of narcotics but also involved production and consumption within Mozambique.
He identified the country’s approximately 2,700-kilometre coastline, strategic position on the Indian Ocean, extensive land borders and links to major Southern African economic corridors as factors that complicated efforts to control drug trafficking.
For his part, Health Minister Ussene Isse reported that health facilities treated around 23,400 people for behavioural changes associated with drug and other substance use in 2024, rising to 28,800 in 2025, an increase of approximately 23 per cent.
He also said the proportion of deaths associated with drug use rose from five percent in 2004 to 30 per cent in 2025.
(AIM)
MR/Zt/Am/