32.2 tonnes of cannabis resin seized at Casablanca port
Customs at the port of Casablanca seized more than 32.2 tonnes of cannabis resin hidden in aluminium cans in three containers bound for Valencia, Spain, the MAP agency reported. The forwarding agent was arrested; a later US cable called the April seizure a record 34 metric tons.
Customs at the port of Casablanca seized late on 23 April 2009 more than 32.2 tons of
cannabis resin in three 40-foot containers bound for the port of Valencia in
Spain, the local MAP news agency reported the next day.[1]The resin, known locally as
chira with a street value of 33 million dirhams (about $3.9 million), was concealed in
aluminium cans declared as used cans sent to a Spanish drink-can company.[1]It was the
largest drug haul at the Casablanca port in five years, after a 16-ton cargo seized in
2005.[1]
Arrest and record
The forwarding agent was arrested pending interrogation.[1]A later US diplomatic cable
recording Morocco’s 2009 counternarcotics results described the April seizure at the
Casablanca port as a record 34 metric tons of cannabis seized and destroyed by customs
and police.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The MAP report gives 32.2 tons while the later US cable gives 34 metric tons for the April Casablanca seizure; this report uses the detailed MAP figure.
The forwarding agent arrested pending interrogation was not named, and no charges or trial outcome were reported.
Royal Gendarmerie officers in Kalaat Sraghna raided an olive grove bordering Marchouh commune, seizing hashish, cannabis ears and traditional spirit, and arrested one suspect. The gendarmes said investigations were continuing to identify and arrest the others involved.
Royal Gendarmerie officers in Larache province arrested two men caught crushing cannabis at Douar Mahir, in Bni Garfat commune, and seized 2.26 tonnes of kif, of which 1,360 kilograms were stems and 900 kilograms already crushed material. The two were held in police custody under a prosecutor's inquiry, and the seized cannabis was destroyed under a mixed commission.
Royal Gendarmerie officers arrested four men and seized more than two tonnes of kif and smuggled tobacco from three vehicles in the Aoulouz area of Taroudant province, Morocco. The four were held on the public prosecutor's orders for an inquiry into where the shipment came from and where it was going.
Police in Tinghir province stopped a car on the outskirts of Boumalne Dadès on 29 October 2026 and found 28 kilograms of chira, the cannabis resin known as hashish, hidden in its bodywork. Four people, two of them women, were arrested and remanded to Ouarzazate prison, and investigators suspect one woman's husband directed the network from his cell.
