Guinea Bissau has developed a reputation as a key drugs transiting country

Three years ago a boat sank off the coast and hundreds of packets of powder washed up on the beaches.

"People saw something they thought was flour," recalls a fisherman. In reality the powder was cocaine.

Previously drug trafficking was almost unknown, now South American drug barons, increasingly frustrated in their ability to import directly into Europe, use the country as a stopover on the route to Europe.

Recently police made a massive seizure of cocaine. A few hours after the seizure the Attorney General and representatives of the military arrived at the police station demanding the seized cocaine.

"The drugs were taken to a safe in the ministry of finance," says a journalist, "from where they subsequently disappeared".

With a desperate lack of resources Guinea Bissau is now fighting against a reputation as a key drugs transiting country.

This episode of People & Power airs from Saturday, February 7, 2009 at the following times GMT:
Saturday: 0130, 1230, 1930; Sunday: 0330, 1030, 2330; Monday: 0730