Police seize 575 kg of cannabis in Kaya and Ouagadougou, 20.5 kg more in Pô
Burkina Faso's regional judicial police in Koulsé seized 575.15 kg of cannabis in Kaya and Ouagadougou and arrested one network member, police said on 25 September 2025. The same day the central police station in Pô arrested two travellers carrying 20.5 kg of cannabis on National Road 5.
Burkina Faso’s regional judicial police for the Koulsé region carried out a
seizure operation that took 575.15 kg of chanvre indien, the French term used
for cannabis, off the market in Kaya and Ouagadougou.[1][2]Acting on information
about a drug-trafficking network in Kaya and other localities, investigators
first seized 7 kg of chanvre indien in sector 4 of Kaya.[3][2]The investigation
then traced the network to Ouagadougou, in the Boassa and Sondogo neighbourhoods
and the commune of Saaba, where officers seized six and ten sacks holding fifty
cannabis pads each.[4][2]
In total the operation recovered 575.15 kg of chanvre indien, which the police
valued at 80 million CFA francs.[4][2]Police valued the 575.15 kg at 80 million
CFA francs.[3]The Koulsé investigators arrested one active member of the
network in that operation.[1][2]They also seized a motorcycle and cash.[4]
Separately, the central police station in Pô arrested two people during a
security search at the Tambolo/Pô police post on National Road 5.[3][2]Police
said the pair bought the cannabis in a neighbouring country and carried it as
passengers on public transport along the Dakola–Ouagadougou route, hiding the
pads among clothes in new suitcases.[5][2]
The National Police published both results in statements dated Thursday 25
September 2025, appealing to residents to keep reporting suspicious cases on its
hotlines.[5]
Police estimated the value of the Pô seizure at 2.3 million CFA francs.[6][2]
Photos and video
The seized cannabis laid out for the cameras, captioned by KOACI as a view of the drugs seized. Photo: KOACIPhoto details
Original
1500 × 1238 px · JPEG · 296 KB
SHA-256
549d05213fa4917d…
Retrieved
6 Nov 2026
Shown
our 320px copy; enlarging loads the original
Source: KOACIThe cannabis pads seized in the Kaya and Ouagadougou operation, in the photo published with Wakat Séra's report on the police statement. Photo: Wakat Séra / Police nationalePhoto details
Retrieved
6 Nov 2026
Retrieval
failed (fetch failed)
Shown
the publisher's file, through an image proxy
Source: Wakat SéraThe twenty cannabis pads seized at the Tambolo/Pô police post on National Road 5. Photo: Burkina 24 / Police nationalePhoto details
The sources give only the announcement date, 25 September 2025, for both operations; the dates of the Kaya, Ouagadougou and Pô seizures themselves are not stated, and 25 September 2025 is used as the incident date.
KOACI calls the Pô traffickers' partner country Ghana while Burkina 24 and the National Police statement say only a neighbouring country, so no country is named in the text.
No charges, court referral or custody ruling were reported for the one arrested network member or for the two men held in Pô.
The 80 million CFA franc valuation is the police's figure for the 575.15 kg only; the Pô 2.3 million CFA franc valuation is reported separately and no combined value is recorded.
The Kaya 7 kg and the Ouagadougou sacks are not itemised by weight, so the figures cannot be checked against the 575.15 kg total.
The Ouagadougou and Kaya operations spanned several locations, so the report uses Ouagadougou's coordinates with locality precision rather than a single incident spot.
KOACI gives the two Pô suspects' alleged trafficking route as Burkina Faso–Ghana; the Pô articles do not say how many people were stopped besides the two arrested.
The photo addresses were taken from the cited pages' image markup; the pictures could not be viewed and their captions do not confirm whether the two outlet photos of the Kaya and Ouagadougou seizure are the same police handout.
Only one National Police statement underlies each operation; the other outlets are reprints of the same communiqué text.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Burkina 24: They had twenty cannabis pads weighing 20.5 kg, valued at 2,300,000 CFA francs, packed in a suitcase and large bags.
Seneweb gives the Pô weight only as "more than 20 kg" and the value as an estimate of about 2.3 million CFA francs; the precise 20.5 kg figure comes from the National Police statement as published by Burkina 24.
Seneweb does not name the neighbouring country the cannabis came from, nor the Dakola–Ouagadougou route or National Road 5 given in the other accounts.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Seneweb: Separately, the central police station in Pô arrested two people during a security search at the Tambolo/Pô police post on National Road 5.
KOACI calls the Pô traffickers' partner country Ghana while Burkina 24 and the National Police statement say only a neighbouring country; the report's text reflects the latter.
KOACI's Pô passage is written in the first person plural ("ma police"), apparently lifted from the police statement, and does not say when the Pô search took place.
KOACI gives the Koulsé office as the regional judicial police for the "région des Koulsé", an area not otherwise identified in the article.
The Anti-Drug Unit of the Judicial Police announced on 29 September 2026 that it had dismantled a cannabis trafficking and sales network in Ouagadougou, seizing nearly 86 kg of cannabis plus adulterated drinks, contraband cigarettes and psychotropics supplied from a neighbouring country and gold-mining sites.
Police in Gaoua, southwestern Burkina Faso, seized 90 kg of cannabis together with more than 5,000 litres of contraband alcohol in an operation backed by the GCRS. Authorities valued the combined haul at 25 million CFA francs and said a network based in Malba was supplying artisanal gold-mining sites around Gaoua, Kampti and Galgouli.
Burkina Faso customs seized 740 slabs of cannabis hidden in a seven-tonne vehicle on the Bobo-Dioulasso–Ouagadougou road on 29 February 2024. The brigade valued the cannabis at 52.5 million CFA francs and presented the operation as part of counter-terrorism and public-safety enforcement.
Burkina Faso's national police seized 698 slabs of chanvre indien, about 760 kg, in the Hauts-Bassins region and arrested one suspected lone trafficker. Police said he smuggled the cannabis in from abroad on tracks around checkpoints and traded the proceeds for motorcycles.