Tunisia border guard seizes 7.5 kg of zatla cannabis at Bouderias
National guard officers of the Bouderias border brigade in Foussana, Kasserine governorate, seized cannabis resin that two people abandoned in the border zone on the night of 21–22 April 2019. Accounts reported 7.5 kg, or 8 kilos in one outlet, and both people escaped, with preliminary investigations describing an Algerian national who was to hand the drug to a Tunisian.
National guard officers of the Bouderias border brigade, in the Foussana
district of Kasserine governorate, seized cannabis in the evening between Sunday
and Monday, 22 April 2019.[1]The cannabis, known locally as zatla, was found
in a plastic bag at the border area of Bouderias.[1]Two people who had been
holding it escaped the national guard units by crossing into Algerian territory.[1]
A security source said on Monday 22 April 2019 that more than 7 kg of zatla had
been seized at Bouderias.[2]Nessma reported the haul as 7.5 kg of Indian
hemp, zatla, that a person had been carrying and threw away as security officers
approached.[2]Preliminary investigations indicated the cannabis was held by a
person of Algerian nationality who intended to hand it to another person, a
Tunisian.[2]Investigations were continuing to identify the two suspects.[2]Zoom Tunisia, citing a security source, reported that the national guard’s
Bouderias border brigade in Foussana, Kasserine governorate, seized the cannabis
on Sunday evening.[3]The Algerian national fled and investigations were
continuing to identify the Tunisian suspect.[3]
Foussana lies in Kasserine governorate, the mountain frontier zone where
cannabis resin smuggled from Algeria is regularly intercepted and zatla is the
local term for cannabis resin.[3]Officers recovered the cannabis after its
carrier abandoned it in the mountain border strip that runs along the Algerian
border.[3]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Accounts differ on the weight: Réalités Magazine reported 8 kilos, while Nessma TV and the TAP-sourced Zoom Tunisia report gave 7.5 kg, which this report uses.
Réalités described two people fleeing into Algeria, while Nessma and Zoom Tunisia describe one Algerian carrier who abandoned the drug and fled, with a Tunisian intended recipient still sought.
No arrest was made in the accounts, and no charges or court outcome were reported for the two suspects.
The border sector Bouderias is named but not mapped; the coordinates given are for the Foussana district, Kasserine governorate.
No market value for the cannabis was published.
The event took place on the night of Sunday to Monday; the sources do not give a precise time.
Tunisia's customs administration said customs guard units seized more than 153 kg of cannabis at border crossings and inside the country in the first nine months of 2026, alongside more than 101 kg of cocaine and 18.6 million narcotic tablets. Spokesman Colonel Chokri Jabri said customs opened more than 11,000 cases in the period involving goods worth over 190 million dinars.
Security units in Sousse Sud, Tunisia, seized 30 slabs of cannabis resin, known as zatla, on the evening of 31 October 2026 and seized a car. Radio Marina reported that a suspect was arrested and detained on the public prosecutor's authorisation, while the search for other members of the network continued.
Tunisia's National Guard seized 110 slabs of cannabis resin, known as zatla, and 338 pieces of cannabis across the country during September 2026. Its general directorate said in a video that the month's anti-drug operations also led to the detention of 1,515 people.
The interior ministry reported on 7 March 2026 that 2025 brought 181,998 judicial cases in total, 14,300 of them drug-trafficking cases, and 69,164 arrests, 20,289 for drug trafficking. It also reported seizures of cannabis, 479,830 tablets, 146.77 kg of cocaine and 751.25 g of heroin. The figures cover police and national guard, not customs.
