Migration agency boss arrested for cocaine

The head of Guinea-Bissau’s migration agency has been arrested for suspected involvement in cocaine trafficking, police said, becoming one of the most senior officials in the country detained in connection with drug smuggling.

Guinea-Bissau is a major crossing point for Latin American cocaine bound for Europe.

Experts and diplomats say some military and political officials are heavily involved in the trade.

Migration agency boss Colonel Alassana Diallo was taken into custody last Friday, accused of taking 83 capsules of cocaine for himself after they had been seized at the Bissau airport, Domingos Monteiro, deputy director of the judicial police, said.

Monteiro said that after the drugs were seized by the judicial police in March, national guard soldiers burst into a police station to free the suspected dealer and take the cocaine.

The soldiers said they were acting on orders from their boss, Monteiro said.

At the time, Diallo was head of criminal investigations for the national guard. —