Moroccan police announced on Wednesday evening a seizure of more than 31 tons of cannabis resin in a warehouse near Tangier and the arrest of a man. This operation is the largest since the beginning of the year.
The police “threw a major international drug trafficking operation and seized a record shipment of 31 tons 197 kilograms of chira (cannabis resin),” said a statement from the Directorate General of National Security (DGSN).
The cannabis was “packaged and stuffed into fruit and vegetable figurines, the color and size of which are likely to facilitate their exit from Morocco as agricultural products intended for export”, added the DGSN.
A large refrigerated trailer containing dozens of bags and bundles filled with hashish was also seized at this warehouse.
More than 191 tonnes seized in 2021
A 61-year-old man with a criminal record was arrested and placed in police custody on suspicion of links with a criminal network active in international drug trafficking.
The investigation continues in order to “determine all the regional and international ramifications of this criminal network”.
More than 191 tons of cannabis resin were seized in 2021 in Morocco, a decrease of 12% compared to 2020, according to official figures.
Last year, the country passed a law authorizing the therapeutic use of cannabis, a major reform for this North African country considered one of the world’s leading producers of hashish, grown mainly in the mountainous region of the Rif, in the north of the kingdom.