Malam Bacai Sanha Jr, Son Of Former Guinea-Bissau President Jailed In US For Drug Trafficking.
The US Justice Department disclosed on Tuesday that Malam Bacai Sanha Jr, son of a former president of Guinea-Bissau, has been sentenced to over six and a half years in prison for his involvement in a transnational heroin trafficking conspiracy.
According to a statement released by the US Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, Sanha Jr, aged 52, intended to utilize the proceeds from drug trafficking to finance a coup in Guinea-Bissau.
The coup was envisioned to pave the way for his eventual presidency and the establishment of a “drugs regime.”
Douglas Williams, the special agent in charge of the FBI Houston Field Office, emphasized, “Malam Bacai Sanha Jr. wasn’t any ordinary international drug trafficker.
“He is the son of the former president of Guinea-Bissau and was trafficking drugs for a very specific reason – to fund a coup that would eventually lead him to the presidency of his native country where he planned to establish a drug regime.”
Sanha Jr played a significant role in organizing the heroin trafficking conspiracy and facilitating its importation from Europe to the United States.
He and a co-conspirator were apprehended upon their arrival in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania in July 2022 and subsequently extradited to the United States.
Sanha Jr pleaded guilty in September 2023 to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance for unlawful importation.
He has been sentenced to 80 months in prison.
Guinea-Bissau has a history of military coups alongside periods of democratic governance since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974.
Sanha Jr’s father, Malam Bacai Sanha, served as the interim leader in 1999 and later as president until his passing in 2012.
Sanha Jr, known as “Bacaizinho” in Guinea-Bissau, has held various governmental roles, including serving as an economic advisor to his father.
