A pedestrian patrol of the Moroccan Royal Navy seized on Tuesday, October 20, four tons of cannabis resin near a beach near Al-Hoceima (north), the MAP agency announced, citing a military source.
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The traffickers who were there fled, leaving a shipment of 117 bales which were seized, according to the same source.
Another operation revealed 1.6 tonnes of cannabis resin buried in the desert near an uninhabited tent in the Guelmim region, according to the Directorate General of National Security (DGSN).
A shotgun and a sword seized
In addition to 57 packages of "
chira
", the police seized a shotgun, an all-terrain vehicle, a motorcycle, a saber and two cell phones, according to the same source.
The Moroccan authorities have multiplied the announcements in recent days, the DGSN underlining in its press release the "
intense efforts
" to "
fight against all criminal activities and in particular the international trafficking of drugs and psychotropic drugs
".
Read also: Saint-Ouen: life in a city trapped in drug trafficking
Friday, a police operation made it possible to intercept a utility vehicle carrying nearly five tons of cannabis resin in the vicinity of Casablanca (west).
Saturday, 2543 tablets of psychotropic drugs of the type "
Ecstasy
" and "
Rivotril
" and doses of cocaine were seized in an intercity bus in the region of Meknes (center).
Last week, more than 11 tonnes of cannabis resin concealed in agricultural products transported by a truck registered in Morocco were seized in Tangier (north), before shipment to Spain.
Morocco is one of the main cannabis producing countries, cultivated mainly in the mountainous region of Rif (north).
The authorities claim to fight against this production.
In 2019, some 179 tons of cannabis were seized in the kingdom, according to an official report.
The country occupies a "
quasi-monopoly
" in the supply of cannabis to Europe with an annual production estimated at more than 700 tons, for a value of 23 billion dollars, according to a study published in 2020 by the independent network "
Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime
”.
The last decade has also seen the development of various cocaine and heroin trafficking routes to Europe, with Latin American traffickers using cannabis routes to sell their products, via North Africa.
