Five Senegalese marine commandos have been missing since Friday when a suspected drug-trafficking boat was scuppered off the coast of the capital Dakar while it was being searched by the navy, the armed forces said on Saturday.
A Senegalese patrol boat intercepted the vessel, suspected of involvement in the trade in which drug smugglers ship tonnes of cocaine from South America to Europe, using West African countries as transit points.
"During the search, the marine commando response team on board noticed that the ship's valves had opened," the armed forces said in a statement.
"Everything suggests that this sabotage action, consisting of sinking the ship, aimed to erase all evidence of the illicit cargo."
Rescue operation
The patrol boat launched a rescue operation, saving seven of its own team and 10 members of the intercepted boat's crew, but a search is still underway for five missing marine commandos, it said.
Between 2019 and 2022, at least 57 tonnes of cocaine were seized in West Africa or en route to the region, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
In November last year, Senegal's military seized more than three tonnes of cocaine from a ship moored off the coast, in one of the country's largest drugs hauls.
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