Five held as OCRTIS seizes 82.5 kg of cannabis in Dakar
Senegal's OCRTIS anti-drug office arrested five suspected traffickers at Almadies 2 and Keur Massar in Dakar in the night of 19 January 2025 and seized 82.5 kg of cannabis. Police also took a Suzuki Vitara 4x4 and seven mobile phones, and placed all five in custody.
The operational division of Senegal’s Central Office for the Repression of
Illicit Drug Trafficking (OCRTIS), the national anti-drug office, detained five
people suspected of drug trafficking in the capital.[1][2]The five were arrested
at Almadies 2 and Keur Massar in the night of 19 January 2025, between 5 a.m.
and 6 a.m.[1][2]The five were I. Yatassaye, M. A. Sané, A. T. Diop, A. Ndiaye
and M. Sall, according to the national police statement.[1][2]All five were
placed in garde à vue, police custody, and their cases were to go before the
courts.[3][2]
Officers seized two parcels of chanvre indien, the French term for Indian hemp
or cannabis, with a total weight of 82.5 kg.[1][2]The same operation also netted
a Suzuki Vitara 4x4 vehicle and seven mobile phones.[3]The drugs and the
other items were provisionally held at the agency’s headquarters to be sealed as
evidence.[1]
Police said the arrests followed operational intelligence about M. A. Sané,
known as Ada, who had taken part in landing drugs seized on the night of 29 to
30 December 2024 on Mbao beach.[1]The office described the operation as a
further series of arrests in its fight against drug trafficking in the capital.[1]
Police said they would continue their search to dismantle the trafficking network.[2]
Photos and video
A quantity of chanvre indien (cannabis) lying on a table or floor, the illustration published with the APA report on the Dakar seizure; it is captioned only with the article title and no credit or provenance is given.Photo details
YOP L-FRIIyop.l-frii.comFRSénégal : saisie de 82 kg de chanvre indien et plusieurs arrestations ; voici les faits
PressAfrikpressafrik.comFRLutte contre la drogue : 5 arrestations, 82,5 kg de chanvre indien, un 4x4 et des téléphones saisis, selon la police nationale
Open questions the AI reported
The five suspects were placed in police custody, but no charges, court referral or outcome were reported.
No estimate of the value of the 82.5 kg was published.
The separate landing of drugs on Mbao beach in the night of 29 to 30 December 2024 is a different event and is left out of this report.
The places are written Almadies 2 in APA and Almadie 2 in PressAfrik; the report uses Almadies 2.
This account gives no details of a Suzuki Vitara vehicle or seven mobile phones, and no link to the December 2024 Mbao beach landing reported by other outlets.
Gendarmes in Nianing seized 205 kg of cannabis found on the beach near the RIU Baobab hotel on 30 October 2026. The drugs were secured for court proceedings while an investigation was opened to trace the maritime supply chain.
Senegal's Thiès Regional Narcotics Brigade seized five packages of cannabis weighing 160.75 kg between Mbaling and Sinthiou Mbadane. Police said people fled during the operation, but the reports give no exact operation date or number of suspects.
Senegalese customs officers seized 10 kg of "skunk" hashish on 12 October 2026 at the Port of Dakar, hidden in 20 sachets inside two tyres in a container from a North American country declared as carrying only vehicles. The customs service valued the haul at 120 million CFA francs.
On 3 October 2026, urban security officers from Dakar's central police station arrested two men in Keur Massar and seized 18 kg of cannabis from bags in a living room after surveillance on a suspected trafficking network.
