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| - Senegalese authorities have seized nearly two tonnes of cannabis, one kilo of cocaine, plus a "kalashnikov-style gun" in recent drug raids, the West African country's police force said on Monday. Without specifying a date, police said in a statement that they had caught a "notorious trafficker" with three 100-kilo bags of cannabis on the beach in the coastal city of Mbour, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of the capital Dakar. A search of his house turned up another thirteen such bags, as well as proof of travel to the southern city of Ziguinchor, where police said the alleged trafficker "presumably" procured supplies. Ziguinchor is a city in Senegal's southern Casamance region, where experts say a simmering separatist conflict has lent cover to cannabis growers. In a separate statement released on Monday, police also said that they had seized 234 kilos of cannabis in the eastern town of Tambacounda. During the same operation they seized "a kalashnikov-style gun," a motorbike, and two lorries registered in neighbouring Mali, which police said were used for transport. Four people were arrested during the operation. The size of Senegal's drug trade is unclear. However, Senegalese authorities seized 12.8 tonnes of cannabis or cannabis resin in 2017, a marked increase on hauls over previous years, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). On Saturday, narcotics police also arrested a man -- who they said was not Senegalese -- in Ziguinchor after learning of a "vast trafficking network" in hostels in the city. After a "meticulous search" of his person, police found a compact block of white powder in his clothes, which he admitted was cocaine. Police said it amounted to one kilo. Cocaine produced mainly in South America is increasingly being transported by sea via the Caribbean, Maghreb and West Africa to destinations further afield. Senegalese police discovered over a tonne of cocaine in a shipment of cars from Brazil over the summer, for example. eml/cdw
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