Ex-President’s Son Sentenced to 6 Years for Drug Trafficking in US
On Tuesday, the US Justice Department disclosed that the offspring of a past Guinea-Bissau president received a prison term exceeding six and a half years for his participation in a transnational heroin trafficking scheme.
According to a statement from the US Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, Malam Bacai Sanha Jr., aged 52, intended to utilize the funds to support a coup in the West African nation, aiming for his presidency and the formation of a “narco-state.”
“Malam Bacai Sanha Jr. wasn’t any ordinary international drug trafficker,” said Douglas Williams, special agent in charge of the FBI Houston Field Office. “He is the son of the former president of Guinea-Bissau and was trafficking drugs for a very specific reason — to fund a coup.”
According to the statement, Sanha played a key role in leading and organizing the conspiracy related to heroin trafficking, which included importing the substance from Europe to the United States.
He and a fellow conspirator were apprehended upon their arrival in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania in July 2022. Following that, they were promptly sent back to the United States.
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In September 2023, Sanha pled guilty “to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance for unlawful importation,” according to Tuesday’s statement.
He was sentenced to 80 months in prison.
Guinea-Bissau’s past has been marked by a series of military coups, alternating with periods of democratic governance. However, elected officials have completed their terms since the nation gained independence from Portugal in 1974.
Sanha’s father, Malam Bacai Sanha, was initially appointed by a military group as a temporary leader in 1999, but he was defeated in the subsequent election the following year.
He emerged victorious in the presidential election of 2009, yet tragically passed away while undergoing medical care in Paris in January 2012 before his term could be fulfilled.
His son, known as “Bacaizinho” in Guinea-Bissau, has served in several government roles, including as an economic advisor to his father.
Ex-President’s Son Sentenced to 6 Years for Drug Trafficking in US