Gendarmes seize 16 tonnes of cannabis and arrest 80 in Madagascar’s Analabe
Madagascar's gendarmerie unit for Antsiranana ran an operation in May and June 2020 across the Analabe Ambanja region in the north and seized more than 16 tonnes of cannabis and 21 litres of cannabis oil. The force destroyed more than 80,000 plants and arrested 80 people, in a year when the Gendarmerie Nationale reported close to 53 tonnes seized nationwide.
In May and June 2020 the gendarmerie unit of Antsiranana, which oversees the
Analabe Ambanja region, carried out an operation against cannabis growing and
trafficking.[1]
The operation seized more than 16 tonnes of cannabis and 21 litres of cannabis
oil.[1]Gendarmes destroyed more than 80,000 individual cannabis plants.[2]The operation led to the arrest of 80 people.[3]
Madagascar’s Gendarmerie Nationale as a whole seized close to 53 tonnes of
cannabis in 2020, including several seizures of more than one tonne.[1]The
Analabe region, in Ambanja district, is one of Madagascar’s main
cannabis-growing areas, and cultivation, sale and consumption of cannabis remain
strictly illegal in the country.[1]A gendarmerie officer in Ambanja said
gendarmes rarely enter the forest because traffickers there are armed with
Kalashnikovs and shoot without warning.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
80
Plants destroyed
80,000
Cannabis
16 t
Agency type
Gendarmerie
Activity
Trafficking, Cultivation
Setting
Forest or wild land, Field
Grown
Outdoor
Region
Ambanja district
Date
Approximate
Sources
Daily Maverickdailymaverick.co.zaDrugs markets in the islands of the western Indian Ocean (Part Two) — Madagascar’s violent illicit cannabis industry
The sources give only the months (May and June 2020) for the operation; 30 June 2020 is used as the incident date because it is the last month named.
The 16-tonne figure is a minimum ("more than 16 tons") and the 80,000-plant figure is "over 80,000"; 16,000 kg and 80,000 are recorded as the stated minimums.
The sources do not say whether the oil was counted separately from the 16 tonnes, so the 21 litres are named in the text but not added to the kg figure.
No figure for the area cleared, the value of the haul, charges or any court outcome was published.
No single gendarmerie statement or local Malagasy or French outlet reporting this specific May–June 2020 operation could be opened; all opened accounts derive from the Global Initiative's research.
The Natural setting here is inferred from the Analabe region's forests and cannabis fields; the opened accounts do not describe the specific raid sites.
Left out products, as its quotation was not found in Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime Risk Bulletin.
Madagascar's national gendarmerie seized 371 kg of cannabis in Antsirabe and arrested three men, it announced on 17 February 2026. The gendarmerie said reports from residents led officers to bags holding the drug.
The Sofia gendarmerie reported 1,440 kg of cannabis in 114 sacks seized around Antsohihy over six months, with 10 arrests. The stock was burned on 8 December, and another 400 kg was seized the same afternoon.
Madagascar's gendarmerie seized an estimated 250 kg of cannabis at Antakalanabe during a night patrol; the suspected traffickers fled and no arrest was reported. The load was taken to the local gendarmerie post for destruction under a judicial decision, while officials said the trafficking routes remained under surveillance.
Gendarmes on night patrol at Ambodimanary, near Antsohihy, seized twelve sacks holding nearly 200 kg of cannabis after the carriers fled into the dark. No arrests were made, and the sealed load was stored at the Antsohihy brigade pending court-ordered incineration.
