It has been informed by officials that the United States has accused two senior military officers of a West African republic of drug running and declared sanctions against them.

The BBC reported on Friday that the head of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau's air force and its former navy chief have been named "drug kingpins" by the U. S. government. Under the U. S. Drug Kingpin Act, financial sanctions have been imposed on the two, and U. S. citizens are forbidden from doing business with them.

The BBC further noted that Guinea-Bissau is a major entry point for Latin American cocaine smuggled into Europe.

Air force chief Ibraima Papa Camara and Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto will have their American assets frozen.

Adam Szubin, head of the U. S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, said, "Naming these two individuals as kingpins enables us to then target their facilitators, people who might be laundering money for them or assisting them in moving drugs."

Szubin also said that Camara and Na Tchuto have played "significant roles in international narcotics trafficking." (With Inputs from Agencies)