[Maghrebia] Mauritanian state television (TVM) on Sunday (February 28th) aired footage of the twenty drug suspects arrested after clashing with Mauritanian soldiers near the Mali border on Friday night. Three traffickers were killed in the ambush in the north-eastern Mauritanian desert town of Lemzarrab. Army troops also seized six all-terrain vehicles and a truck carrying five tonnes of drugs, weapons, ammunition, fuel and food. The 20 Mauritanian, Algerian and Malian nationals were flown to Nouakchott on Sunday for interrogation.
"The group of drug dealers moved under the protection and security of terrorist groups located in the region. This shows the degree of co-ordination and collaboration between the two groups, Islamists and drug traffickers," Journal Tahalil quoted the TVM report as saying. |