Gendarmes on duty at Meyo-Kyè in Ntem department arrested a 32-year-old Gabonese driver on 10 November 2020.[1] The Meyo-Kyè gendarmerie brigade stopped him for a routine check at the village of Oveng-Essandone.[1] At first sight the pickup appeared to carry only foodstuffs, but a closer search exposed the concealment.[1] Under cassava leaves, banana bunches and sacks of other fresh produce lay eight large sacks holding cannabis ballots.[1] Taken to the post, the suspected dealer denied the facts, saying he did not know he was also carrying illicit goods.[1] He told gendarmes the load was for a trader in Libreville whose identity he did not know.[1] Presented to the prosecutor, he was charged with transport and detention of narcotics and placed in Oyem central prison to await trial.[1]

GabonReview described the load as more than 1,000 ballots of Indian hemp, the local term for cannabis, estimated at 20 million CFA francs.[1] A later court account named the owner of the stock as drug trafficker Abraham Mve-Ndong, aged 33.[2] It recalled that Mve-Ndong had been arrested by the Meyo-Kyè gendarmes at Bitam.[2] It said he was caught on 10 November 2020 at the wheel of a Mitsubishi L200 filled with cannabis sacks.[2] That account said 27 cannabis ballots worth 20 million were thrown into the fire.[2] It described the load as 27 cannabis ballots in eight flour sacks destroyed by fire under procedure.[2] It estimated the stock at more than 300 kilograms, as reported by provincial Radio Gabon.[2]

Presented to an investigating judge, he was charged with illegal detention and transport of Indian hemp.[2] The offence was described as provided for and punished by article 208 of the Penal Code.[2] On 10 March 2021 the Oyem appeal court and general prosecutor’s office incinerated the stock in the presence of court chiefs and anti-drug officers.[2] The prosecutor said the public destruction of the dried herb followed several court decisions.[2]