June 2025
12 reports. Seizures 8 · Arrests 2 · Prosecutions 1 · Sentences 1
A Kuwaiti home grow earns a life sentence
The Criminal Court sentenced a Kuwaiti man to life in prison for growing marijuana in his Salwa apartment and selling it. Police found 45 plants and four kilograms of prepared cannabis, along with 37 kilograms of gold bars and precious metals that investigators treated as proceeds. The sentence was passed under the 1983 drug law, five months before its replacement took effect.
Nicosia court hears of 42 people benefiting from supervised release
At Nicosia’s judicial-year closing session, supervised-release board member Mustafa Hidayet reported 42 beneficiaries between 18 September 2023 and 30 June 2025, with programmes for 36 people continuing. The figures concerned drug cases generally and were presented at the Nicosia court session.[@1]
Zambia reports 4,728 drug arrests and 43.2 tonnes of cannabis
The Drug Enforcement Commission reported 4,728 arrests and 43.2 tonnes of cannabis seized in 2024, alongside 27.9 kg of codeine and 1.9 kg of cocaine. The figures cover all drugs and all forms of cannabis, not cannabis alone.
The Gambia's drug agency reports four tonnes of cannabis seized
The director general of the Drug Law Enforcement Agency reported 1,219 people arrested in 1,208 drug cases in 2024, 1,014 of them Gambians. The agency seized 1.9 tonnes of cannabis sativa and 2.2 tonnes from plantations; cannabis made up 54.7% of all seizures.
Myanmar's junta burns a year's seized drugs
At ceremonies in Yangon, Mandalay and Taunggyi, the home affairs ministry destroyed drugs valued at about 1,072 billion kyats. Among them were over 597 kg of marijuana, beside 1,744 kg of heroin, over 1,334 kg of opium, over 8,573 kg of ketamine and 281 million methamphetamine tablets. The drugs had been seized between 1 June 2024 and 31 May 2025.
Brunei arrests five cannabis couriers who flew to Europe
Five Bruneian men aged 22 to 38 were arrested for carrying 68 kg of cannabis to Europe through third countries, earning about B$21,000. They used modified luggage, and the case showed Brunei acting as a courier source rather than only a consumer market. The arrests were an enforcement action, not a change in the law.
Police trace marijuana smuggled through Port Moresby airport
Police reported arresting a couple and a taxi driver from Hela with 13 kg of marijuana that had arrived from the Highlands, and finding about 10 kg left unattended after a flight from Tapini. They were also investigating more than eight bags that arrived on an Air Sanga flight in May and disappeared from the terminal with the help of airport and police officers.
Honduras's army reports 180,000 marijuana plants seized in half a year
The Honduran armed forces said they had secured 13 illegal marijuana fields with about 180,000 plants so far in 2025, beside 37 coca plantations with more than 770,000 bushes. The latest marijuana field, at Tocoa in Colón, held about 36,000 plants on eight manzanas.
Malta's cannabis authority starts handling odour complaints
After the May amendments took effect, the Authority for the Responsible Use of Cannabis opened a freephone line for complaints about cannabis smells from private homes. Complaints must be signed and say where the smell comes from; officers first advise, then enforce the €235 fine if the nuisance continues.
70 kg of cannabis found in transit luggage at Beijing airport
In June 2025 customs officers at Beijing Capital International Airport found 70.83 kg of cannabis in four suitcases belonging to two foreign passengers who were transiting to a third country. Both were convicted of drug smuggling and sentenced to eight and four years in prison, with fines and deportation.
Aleppo anti-narcotics seize 800 kg of hashish
The anti-narcotics branch in Aleppo arrested two Lebanese nationals and seized about 800 kilograms of hashish and 200,000 narcotic pills. The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration said the men were trying to smuggle the shipment and that the drugs would be destroyed. It was one of the largest cannabis seizures reported since the fall of Assad.
Syria's new government says the drug factories are gone
Six months after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, the interior minister, Anas Khattab, said every Captagon laboratory in the country had been dismantled. In the weeks after the collapse the security forces had destroyed about 100 million pills and about 15 tonnes of hashish. He named treatment and rehabilitation of addicts as the next priority.