Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo has accused a former navy chief in the country Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto of masterminding a failed coup in the West-African nation earlier this month.
Armed assailants had attacked the Presidential palace in Bissau, the nation’s capital, while President Embalo was in a meeting, an incident that triggered reactions across the continent.
Gunshots rocked the Presidential palace leaving not less than 11 persons dead including the President’s security aides.
President Embalo immediately launched an investigation into the foiled coup attempt, which he described as a plot to wipe out his Government.
On Thursday, he alleged that former navy chief Admiral Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto and his aides Tchamy Yala and Papis Djeme were behind the coup attempt, and he ordered for their immediate arrest.
The trio were arrested in April 2013 on board a boat off the coast of West Africa by undercover operatives from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), for their involvement in a high-profile U.S drug sting and conspiring to ship cocaine into the America.
