The central anti-drug brigade of the National Guard in Ben Arous dismantled an international cannabis-trafficking and money-laundering network after ten months of investigation and surveillance.[1] The operation was run with the prosecutor’s office at the Sousse 2 Court of First Instance and announced by the Interior Ministry in a statement on Monday 4 May 2026.[1] Officers arrested 67 Tunisians and foreign nationals and placed them in detention, while 29 others were still being sought.[1] A National Guard spokesman said the arrests were spread over seven governorates.[2] Deposit warrants, the orders placing an accused person in pre-trial detention, were issued against 62 of those arrested.[3]

Investigators said they broke up the financing and logistics chains of a network that was bringing cannabis into Tunisian territory.[1] Officers seized 106.5 kg of cannabis, which the Tunisian outlets call zatla, the local term for cannabis.[1] They also seized 1.442 million Tunisian dinars in cash and jewellery estimated by the ministry at 600,000 dinars.[1] Twenty-six vehicles used to carry the drugs or bought with laundered money were seized as well.[1] The Interior Ministry said 17 official reports, procès-verbaux, were drawn up for illegal currency exchange linked to the activity and for money laundering.[1] Tuniscope, citing the National Guard, reported about 20 such reports and said the laundering and illegal financing circuits used cryptocurrency.[3]