RABAT: Nearly two tonnes of cannabis and over 20 kg of cocaine were seized this week in three separate operations in northern Morocco, the national security body and state media said Thursday.
Police seized 920 kg of cannabis resin Thursday at Tanger Med port, the Mediterranean’s biggest maritime cargo terminal, on board a vehicle “getting ready to board” a ferry to France, said the DGSN, Morocco’s national security service.
The driver, a 42-year-old Moroccan, was arrested, it said.
On Wednesday night, “three individuals suspected of links to a criminal network active in the international trafficking of cocaine” were arrested in Nador.
One of the three was nabbed on a jet ski “in possession of 21 packages containing around 21 kg of cocaine,“ the DGSN said, adding the two others were arrested on suspicion of owning the haul.
Coastguards on Tuesday night seized a sailboat, two jet skis and a go-fast in an anti-drug operation in the Mediterranean, the official MAP news agency said.
The operation led to the arrest of five suspects — three Spaniards and two Moroccans — and the seizure of around a tonne of cannabis resin, MAP said.
Morocco is one of the world’s top cannabis producers, although the authorities say they are cracking down and seized nearly 180 tonnes of the drug last year.
Over the past decade, Latin American cocaine producers have used cannabis networks in North Africa to smuggle their own drugs into Europe.
This has led to major operations by authorities along Spain’s southern coastline since 2018, with 8.5 tonnes of cocaine seized in less than two years. — AFP
