Morocco arrests 23 for smuggling cocaine

RABAT, Jan 25 (Reuters) Moroccan police have arrested 23 Africans who were attempting to smuggle cocaine hidden in their stomachs through Casablanca airport, officials said today.

Three Nigerians were detained yesterday when scan tests showed they had swallowed 209 condoms and capsules containing a total of 4.5 kg of the drug, police officials said.

The men, aged between 25 and 30, were flying from Bamako in Mali to Amsterdam via Casablanca, they added.

Twenty other Africans, mostly Nigerians, have been arrested at Casablanca airport since January 18 when the authorities first started to use scan tests to test for drugs, they said.

The 23 people who were arrested were carrying a total of 14.5 kg of cocaine hidden in their stomachs, they added.

Morocco, fearing collusion between local hashish smugglers and Colombian and other international drugs traffickers, has stepped up efforts to crack down on drugs smugglers in the last five years.

Officials say Moroccan authorities seized 911 kg of cocaine in 2006, 50 times more than the previous year.

Morocco is the main source of hashish trafficking to Europe via Spain.

REUTERS MS ND1826