1.7 tonnes of cannabis seized in Bamako; 2 detained
Mali's anti-drug office seized 1.7 tonnes of cannabis from a truck arriving from Ghana in Yirimadjo, Bamako, detaining two suspects. The office called it the country's second-largest cannabis seizure and said the truck's owner had been identified and was being sought.
Mali’s Office central des stupéfiants, the country’s central anti-drug office,
intercepted 1.7 tonnes of cannabis in Bamako during the weekend before 23
January 2018.[1]Two people were held in custody while searches for other
suspects continued.[1]The office said the truck’s owner had been identified
and was actively sought.[2]
Officers counted 1,018 cannabis bricks totalling 1.7 tonnes, as reported by the
OCS in a communiqué dated 22 January.[2]The cannabis was hidden in a truck
arriving from Ghana and was seized in the Yorodjambougou sector of Yirimadjo in
Bamako.[2]The office described the seizure as the second largest cannabis
seizure in Mali, after a record 2.7-tonne seizure from a vehicle that had also
come from Ghana.[2]
OCS director Colonel Adama Tounkara gave the account to the BBC’s correspondent
Alou Diawara in Bamako.[1]He said cannabis is also grown in Mali.[1]Clandestine cannabis fields had been discovered in the southern Sikasso region
in October 2017.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
2
Cannabis
1.7 t
Agency type
Police
Cannabis
Herbal cannabis (1.7 t)
Setting
Vehicle, Field
Case stage
Under investigation
Route
Ghana → Mali
Sources
BBC News Afriquebbc.comFR1,7 tonne de cannabis saisie au Mali : réaction du colonel Adama Tounkara
The sources date the interception only to the weekend before publication, with the OCS communiqué dated 22 January; 23 January 2018, the publication date, is used as the incident date.
The names, ages, nationalities and charges of the two people in custody were not reported, and no court outcome was reported.
The truck owner was said to be identified but was not named.
No valuation of the seized cannabis was published.
The reported record seizure of 2.7 tonnes is a separate earlier event left out of this report.
On the evening of 17 September 2026 Bamako’s mobile customs brigade stopped a goods truck at Sénou and seized 230 kg of cannabis hidden under plastic waste. The driver and his apprentice fled. Customs valued the load at 312 million CFA francs.
On 6 September 2026 Malian customs at the PK 11 post in Koutiala found 5.60 kg of cannabis and 4,000 tramadol tablets in a passenger's backpack on a bus from Yorosso to Bamako. The passenger, described as a pupil, was arrested.
On 21 August 2026 customs officers at the Kayes wharf intercepted a national of an English-speaking West African country carrying ten bricks of cannabis. The authorities gave no weight or destination for the cannabis, and the companion flour and pasta seizure is excluded from cannabis figures.
On 25 July 2025 Mali’s customs intelligence service intercepted two freight trucks from a neighbouring country and seized 104 balls of cannabis hidden in fitted compartments. No official weight was announced and no arrests were reported in the accounts.
