Guinea-Bissau complained on Monday that its former navy chief had been "kidnapped" from its territorial waters by US federal agents investigating a trans-Atlantic cocaine trafficking scheme. The United States had said Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto, a US-designated international drug "kingpin", was arrested earlier this month in "international waters" near the west African island nation of Cape Verde. But Guinea-Bissau communications minister Fernando Vaz told a media conference that "Rear-Admiral Bubo Na Tchuto was taken in our waters".

The UN Representative in Guinea-Bissau on Friday called "calm and serenity" there after the US charged its former military chief with drug trafficking and seeking to sell arms to Colombian rebels. "The government and the armed forces must remain calm. It would be counter-productive to react," Jose Ramos Horta, a former president of East Timor, told journalists. "True or false, the accusations made against General Indjai must respect the principle of law that presumes innocence," he added. "Just because someone says A or B, that does not make him guilty."

By Richard Valdmanis and David Lewis DAKAR (Reuters) - U.S. anti-drugs agents who snared Guinea-Bissau's former Navy chief in a high-seas sting last week were also targeting the head of the West African state's army, sources familiar with the operation told Reuters.

Guinea Bissau's top intelligence official has been suspended following the arrest of former navy chief and alleged drugs kingpin Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto, a government order seen Thursday by AFP shows. The decree says Serifo Mane's removal was part of a "restructuring" of the home ministry and to improve services tasked with "maintaining constitutional order".