Guinean MP accused of cocaine trafficking in Lisbon believes it was a “political trap”

Guinean MP Manuel Irénio Nascimento Lopes, arrested in May 2024 at Lisbon airport for drug trafficking, said Tuesday, in the first session of his trial, that he was the target of a “political trap” by the country's President .

Guinean MP arrested at Lisbon airport with 13 kilograms of cocaine

The defendant, who risks a sentence of between four and 12 years in prison for drug trafficking , following the concealment of 13 kilograms of cocaine in his luggage, claims in his defense that the suitcase containing the drugs was delivered to him in Bissau, when he was preparing to travel to Lisbon, by a TAP employee at the airport in the Guinean capital.

Manuel Irénio Nascimento Lopes, 57 years old, deputy of the Movement for Democratic Alternation (MADEM-G 15), was arrested on May 7, 2024, at Humberto Delgado Airport, in Lisbon, where he arrived on a flight of the Portuguese airline TAP from Bissau, with 13 kilograms of cocaine hidden in his luggage.

This Tuesday, in the first session of the trial, the defendant reiterated that he was the target of a “political trap” by the Guinean President, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, when a TAP worker, who he identified as Ivan Sampaio, asked him to be the carrier of a suitcase to be delivered to Lisbon .

Ivan Sampaio was named a defendant and questioned by the Judicial Police, but was acquitted due to lack of evidence.

At the end of the first session of the trial, Manuel Lopes' lawyer, Carlos Melo Alves, lamented the “very, very fragile power” of the defense to produce evidence, unlike the Public Prosecutor's Office, which considered that it “did not investigate what it should have investigated” , which is why it requested additional investigation, which will be considered by the court in the next session, scheduled for March 11.

“We can conclude that the defense has very, very weak power. If we look at the prosecution, it has the power to investigate. It could be said that here it did not investigate what it should have investigated and now we, perhaps, intend to prove some facts and I do not know if we will be able to do so, since there is a huge discrepancy between the power of the prosecution to investigate and the power of the defense”, he declared.

The lawyer added that, if the statements made by his client are true, regarding the existence of messages indicating his arrest as soon as the plane landed, even before he was questioned by the Portuguese authorities , it is a political trap.

“If what he is saying is true, that the messages are on the phone, I would say that, later, I will speak out in a way that is perhaps more vehement in relation to what I think,” he said.

Asked if he was referring to a “political trap”, Carlos Melo Alves replied: “That’s what he says and I completely agree with him .”

The lawyer also said that his client “trusts in Portuguese justice”.

“But I have been here for a long time and I know that, sometimes, even when I am in my right mind, things may not go as we want”, he said, stressing that he is “ expecting justice to be done and justice”, in his understanding, was for Manuel Lopes to be acquitted .

“Let’s see what happens,” he concluded.

Manuel Lopes has been in preventive detention since his arrest and faces a sentence of between four and 12 years in prison.