240 kg of hashish found in orange-juice cartons at Casablanca port
Moroccan customs at the port of Casablanca found 240 kilograms of cannabis resin hidden inside orange-juice cartons in an export consignment of 720 cartons on 8 March 2018. The traffickers had filled the weight difference with sand, and the seizure was announced on 13 March 2018.
On 8 March 2018, customs officers at the port of Casablanca foiled an attempted
export of 240 kilograms of chira concealed inside orange-juice cartons.[1]The
port customs directorate announced the seizure in a communiqué published on
Tuesday.[1]
The export consignment comprised 720 cartons holding 12 boxes of orange juice
each, and inconsistencies in the documents attached to the customs declaration
raised suspicion.[2]Officers checked the cargo and found 240 kilograms of
cannabis resin as pressed slabs wrapped in plastic and aluminium foil hidden
inside cartons of a local juice brand.[2]The traffickers had made up the
weight difference with sand so that each carton would match the normal weight of
a juice carton.[2]
The document check on the declaration for the 720 cartons of 12 orange-juice
boxes destined for export revealed inconsistencies that alerted customs
officers.[3]The follow-up verification, carried out with the anti-drug
brigade, found 240 kilograms of hashish as slabs wrapped in plastic and
aluminium foil inside the juice cartons.[3]
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime describes Morocco as the world’s
leading producer and one of its main exporters of cannabis resin, most of it
sold in Europe.[2]The International Narcotics Control Board said in 2015 that
close to 50,000 hectares of farmland were devoted to the crop, mainly in the
northern Rif region.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Cannabis
240 kg
Agency
Moroccan Customs Administration
Agency type
Customs
Cannabis
Hashish (240 kg)
Activity
Smuggling
Setting
Port or sea
Region
Casablanca-Settat
Sources
TelQueltelquel.maFR240 kilos de drogue cachés dans des briques de jus d'orange saisis à Casablanca
The customs inspection is dated to 8 March 2018 by TelQuel, while VOA Afrique and Aujourd'hui le Maroc report only the customs announcement published on 13 March 2018, so the exact inspection day rests on TelQuel's account.
No arrest, suspect, charge or court outcome was reported in the opened accounts.
The destination country of the export consignment was not named.
No street value or estimated market price for the 240 kilograms was published.
The text gives an area ("50,000 hectares") but the figures have no hectares; check whether it belongs there.
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.
