Five arrested at Agbotagon with cannabis and 1.78m CFA in fake notes
Police in Houègbo arrondissement detained five people, one of them a woman, in raids on 3 and 6 November 2026 that broke up a suspected counterfeit-money network at Agbotagon. Officers seized 28 sachets of cannabis in the first raid and about 1.5 kg in a shop in the second, alongside counterfeit notes, printing plates and smuggled medicines.
Officers of the Houègbo arrondissement police station broke up a suspected
network running counterfeit money and several illegal activities in Agbotagon
and arrested five people, including one woman.[1]The operation ran over three
days, from 3 to 6 November 2026.[1]
On the evening of Tuesday 3 November police raided a house suspected of being a
meeting place for the group; the house belonged to a suspect who is still at
large.[1]There police detained a hairdresser and two other people presented
as her accomplices.[1]The search turned up 1,780,000 CFA francs in
counterfeit 10,000-franc notes, paper cut to the size of banknotes, 28 sachets
of chanvre indien, the French term for cannabis, and several motorcycle parts.[1]Police also seized SIM cards, a bottle and amulets described as objects of
a mystical nature.[1]
According to the operation’s information, the main suspect admitted the facts to
investigators and named suppliers and other network members.[2]At dawn on
Friday 6 November police searched the home of two brothers suspected of
belonging to the network.[1]In a shop belonging to one of them they found
about 1.5 kg of chanvre indien and two kilograms of smuggled medicines.[1]In
the room of his brother, presented as one of the network’s main organisers,
agents found printing plates and new blank notes.[1]Both men were detained
and taken to the police station, and were reported to have admitted the facts
during questioning.[1]
Le Plateau d’Abomey places Agbotagon in the commune of Allada and says the sweep
was part of an operation called “Houègbo zéro escroc”.[2]It reports that
several suspected members of the network were in police custody and that the
inquiry continued to find others who fled.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Le Plateau d'Abomeyleplateaudabomey.bjFRHouègbo : un réseau présumé de fabrication de faux billets et de trafic de stupéfiants démantelé à Agbotagon, cinq suspects interpellés et près de 2 millions FCFA de faux billets saisis
Open questions the AI reported
No weight is given for the 28 sachets of chanvre indien seized on 3 November, so only the 1.5 kg found in the shop is counted.
No charges, hearing date or court outcome were published; the accused were being held in custody while the inquiry continued.
The fake money and medicines are part of the same event but their amounts are not counted as cannabis figures.
The article names no written charge for the cannabis, describing the group only as dealing in illegal activities and drugs.
Only two Benin outlets were found reporting this event; both draw on the same police account.
Houègbo : un réseau présumé de fabrication de faux billets et de trafic de stupéfiants démantelé à Agbotagon, cinq suspects interpellés et près de 2 millions FCFA de faux billets saisis (Le Plateau d'Abomey) could not be opened again to check its quotations (The rendered source is larger than 2 MB.; archived fallback unavailable (no accessible Wayback capture was found). No AI research was started); what it says is as the AI read it.
Police arrested a man as he arrived to collect a parcel containing 5.4 kg of suspected cannabis at a Cotonou transport company on 29 September 2026. He said the parcel came from Togo by way of Bassila, and was held while police continued their investigation.
On 22 September 2026, border police on the Niger River at Malanville arrested a boatman after finding two packages of Indian hemp in his luggage. He jumped into the river to escape, was pulled out with help from residents, and was placed in custody while prosecutors opened a trafficking investigation.
Police in Kétou arrested a burglary suspect in a ghetto in the Obafemi quarter and seized 21.5 kg of cannabis. Officers also seized three motorcycles of doubtful origin and said inquiries into the wider network were continuing.
Police in Porto-Novo arrested a couple at their home in Houssouko on 17 August 2026 and seized suspected cannabis and Tramadol tablets. The husband, a motorcycle-taxi driver, allegedly distributed the drugs while his partner stored and packaged them, and both were held for presentation to the prosecutor.
