Two couriers jailed over 22.2 kg of cannabis resin at Cayenne airport
Customs officers at Félix-Éboué airport in French Guiana stopped a woman arriving from Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle on 16 August 2026 with 5.316 kg of cannabis resin in LEGO boxes, then a passenger from Orly the next day with 16.877 kg in gift packaging. Both were sentenced, to three and four years with part suspended, and fines of 8,000 and 20,000 euros.
🇫🇷 Félix-Éboué international airport, Matoury, near Cayenne, French Guiana · France
·
Arrested
2
Charged
2
Cannabis
22.193 kg
Prison
3 years (2 suspended) for the 16 August courier; 4 years (2 suspended) for the 17 August courier
A woman arriving at Félix-Éboué international airport in French Guiana from
Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle on 16 August 2026 was stopped by the Cayenne customs
internal-surveillance brigade, which found bars of cannabis resin in three LEGO
toy boxes in her checked baggage.[1]The resin in the LEGO boxes weighed 5.316
kg and customs valued it at 48,000 euros.[2]The next day, 17 August, a second
check on a flight from Orly found vacuum-sealed sachets of cannabis resin in two
boxes of gift packaging, 16.877 kg valued at about 152,000 euros.[1]The two
seizures at the airport came to 22.193 kg of cannabis resin within 48 hours.[1]The customs service announced the seizures in a statement published on
Thursday 27 August 2026.[2]
The first courier, the woman stopped on 16 August, was sentenced to three years
in prison, two of them suspended, an 8,000 euro fine and a five-year ban on
staying in French Guiana.[1]The courier stopped on 17 August, a passenger
arriving from Orly, was sentenced to four years in prison, two of them
suspended, a 20,000 euro fine and a two-year ban from Félix-Éboué airport.[2]In 2025 customs officers in French Guiana seized 466 kg of cocaine, 70 kg of
cannabis and 1,213 kg of tobacco.[1]Customs said its latest seizures in 2026
showed cannabis resin being imported from Europe.[1]
Photos and video
Customs photo showing the two airport seizures that together contain more than 20 kilos of cannabis. Photo: DouanesPhoto details
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Source: France-GuyaneCustoms photo of cannabis resin said to be imported from Europe in the latest 2026 seizures. Photo: DouanesPhoto details
The two seizures were two separate customs checks with two different travellers; they are reported together because customs announced them as one 48-hour result and each is recorded here separately in the text.
Neither source gives the date or court that imposed the sentences.
The sources do not say where the couriers were travelling from beyond the Paris airports, who sent the resin or who was to receive it.
The first courier's ban covers stays in French Guiana for five years; the second has a two-year ban from Félix-Éboué airport, and the sources do not explain whether the two bans differ in scope.
The 2025 totals for cocaine, cannabis and tobacco cover the whole territory and are context only; they are not counted in the figures for this event.
A 28-year-old driver tested positive for cannabis after rear-ending a car and injuring its driver at Percy-en-Normandie on 2 January 2026. The Coutances court sentenced him on 10 November 2026 to six months suspended imprisonment and cancelled his driving licence.
The criminal court in Troyes sentenced 47-year-old Ramzi Nefzaoui to 14 months in firm prison for drug trafficking and issued an arrest warrant. The case began when gendarmes stopped his Renault Laguna at Barberey-Saint-Sulpice in December 2025 and found cannabis resin, herb, cash and a scale.
The Fontainebleau criminal court sentenced a driver to five years in prison, including two years firm, over a fatal 2021 crash at Souppes-sur-Loing in which his 20-year-old passenger died. The court heard he had drunk alcohol and smoked cannabis and was driving at 135 km/h in a 30 km/h zone.
Anti-crime police in Passamaïnty, Mayotte, broke up a drug deal on 4 November 2026 and seized 3.334 kg of cannabis and 8,495 euros in cash from a suspected stash flat; three people were arrested. Two young men were tried in Mamoudzou on 9 November and sentenced to 30 months with 12 suspended and a 15-month suspended term.