Malam Bacai Sanha Jr., 52, pleaded guilty Sept. 6, 2023, to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance for the purpose of unlawful importation.
U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison has now ordered Sanha to serve an 80-month-term of imprisonment. Not a U.S. citizen, he is expected to face removal proceedings following his imprisonment. At the hearing, the court heard Sanha was the son of the former president of Guinea-Bissau and was intending to use drug proceeds to finance his future campaign for president in 2025 and a coup in that country. In handing down the sentence, the court noted Sanha was a leader and organizer in the heroin trafficking conspiracy and was directly involved in its importation from Europe to the United States. The court also found his drug trafficking activities to be extensive.
“The expansive reach of transnational criminal networks, like the one Sanha ran, presents a serious threat to the safety and health of all communities,” said Hamdani. “Sanha and his associates intended to distribute kilograms of heroin to the United States at a time when Americans lose their lives to drug overdose every day. This prosecution represents our office’s unwavering determination, together with our U.S. and international partners, to target and bring to justice violent criminals who lead transnational drug trafficking organizations that continue to flood our country with dangerous drugs.”
“The success of this investigation is the result of careful coordination between our federal, state, local and international partners,” said Special Agent in Charge Daniel C. Comeaux of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Houston Division. “Our goal is to keep the citizens of the United States safe from the terrors of drug traffickers, whether they reside on our soil or foreign land.”
“Malam Bacai Sanha Jr. wasn’t any ordinary international drug trafficker,” said Special Agent in Charge Douglas Williams of the FBI Houston Field Office. “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. Fortunately, FBI Houston agents and our partners at the DEA thwarted his attempts, with the cooperation of our international partners. Crime has a global reach and impact, and so does the FBI.”
Sanha was the leader of a transnational criminal organization and worked with co-conspirators and international individuals to import heroin from various countries into Portugal.
