Niger Republic mayor arrested after 200kg of cocaine was found in his official car

A mayor in Northern Niger has been arrested after 200kg of cocaine worth around $8.7 million, was found in his official car. 

Sources told Reuters that the mayor and his driver, who were in the vehicle at the time, were arrested with 199 bricks of cocaine at a checkpoint on the road heading north out of the desert trading hub of Agadez on Sunday January 2. 

A statement from Niger’s Central Office for the Repression of Illicit Drug Trafficking (OCRTIS) confirmed that there had been a record seizure of more than 200 kg of cocaine in Agadez, but did not give details.

This is coming after 17 tonnes of cannabis resin worth around $37 million were seized in the West African country last May.