Two Mozambican women get 49 years for a heroin run
Forty-nine years, shared between two people. Alzira Mutombene and Zubeida Ussene, both Mozambican, were sentenced on Tuesday to 25 and 24 years after a Mauritian court convicted them of trafficking heroin onto the island.
Sentences this heavy are the state's loudest answer to a trade the same week's official figures still measure in billions of rupees, a scale no single courtroom can match. The deterrent logic is familiar, whether it thins the supply or only the couriers is the question that rarely gets a clean answer.
Can Mauritius rein in a taxi app it never approved?
Who polices a taxi app that never asked to operate? Transport Minister Osman Mahomed told Parliament that drivers had complained to his ministry and to the National Land Transport Authority about Alalila, the Uber-powered platform now running here. A group of 243 taxi operators is already suing Logidis and the ministry.
Mahomed noted the 2022-23 budget promised a rulebook for booking apps and nobody wrote it. His committee has met three times since April, hearing unions for some 7,600 drivers.
PM Ramgoolam rules out a US military base
No American base is on the way. PM Ramgoolam told Parliament as much when Joanna Bérenger pressed him on a tie-up with the New Mexico National Guard and a US logistics-sharing pact. PM Ramgoolam cast it as maritime security for ocean territory of 2.2 million square kilometres, where illegal fishing, drug runs and piracy outstrip what it can patrol alone.
No landing for a Mozambique cattle ship
A livestock ship out of Mozambique cannot unload here. The government says it tightened surveillance after learning the vessel was heading this way, and ruled that none of its animals will come ashore. Officials are treating the cargo as a biosecurity matter, not a routine import, and want it kept well clear of local herds.
Shorts
SIT boss revoked over a leaked audio – Nishta Jooty-Needroo was pushed out of the Sugar Investment Trust; she calls the leaked recording a fabrication.
Nine held over a Calebasses safe heist – Four safes stolen from a Calebasses firm turned up in a river, and police have arrested nine after months of digging.
Mauritius to host US-Africa business summit – The island will stage the 2026 US-Africa Business Summit from 6 to 9 December.
Abusers may be ordered out, not victims – A rewritten abuse bill lets courts evict the aggressor; the state logged 7,562 cases last year.
Capped prices kick in on 1 July – Subsidised ceilings on dozens of grocery staples took effect on 1 July, easing household bills.
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