Sierra Leone has recalled its ambassador to neighbouring Guinea after seven suitcases of suspected cocaine were found in an embassy vehicle, Sierra Leone's foreign minister said on Thursday.
Guinean authorities on Monday impounded a vehicle belonging to Sierra Leone's embassy and detained the driver and another occupant on suspicion of possessing "substances suspected to be cocaine", Foreign Minister Alhaji Musa Timothy Kabba told journalists.
"In light of this serious development, the government has urgently recalled Sierra Leone's ambassador to Guinea, Ambassador Mr Alimamy Bangura, to Freetown to provide a full account of the incident," he added.
"A thorough investigation has been launched to determine how this incident occurred and to hold all responsible parties accountable," Kabba said, adding that the governments of the two West African countries were cooperating.
Cash and suspected cocaine
He said that Bangura had not been in the vehicle and was not under arrest.
"It has not been proven that the ambassador is involved in this trafficking," Kabba added.
He said that authorities found $2,000 in cash along with seven suitcases of substances suspected to be cocaine, without specifying the amount in kilos.
Between January 2019 and June 2024, at least 126.4 tonnes of cocaine were seized in, en route, or from West Africa, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said in a 2024 report.
Sierra Leone's President Julius Maada Bio said last April that drug abuse in the country was a "national emergency."
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