Anti-drug police seize five tonnes of cannabis resin at Owendo port
Gabon's anti-drug police seized more than five tonnes of cannabis resin from a car at the port of Owendo on 8 July 2021 and arrested the suspected traffickers, police said. The force valued the haul at more than 70 billion CFA francs, saying the suspects had come to ship it westward.
Gabon’s anti-drug police seized more than five tonnes of cannabis resin and
arrested the suspected traffickers, the police said in a statement on Thursday 8
July 2021.[1]According to the police statement, the suspects had come to the
port of Owendo to dispose of the haul by loading it onto ships leaving for the
West.[1]
Police searching their car found packages containing more than five tonnes of
cannabis resin intended for trafficking.[1]The police valued the haul at more
than 70 billion CFA francs (about 126.4 million dollars).[1]
The operation was presented as part of the security efforts of the anti-drug
police, the police statement said.[1]The statement said seizures of Indian
hemp had multiplied in Gabon in recent months, and that anti-drug police
statistics put about 750 tonnes seized in the country between 2018 and 2019.[1]
A second outlet carried the same account on 8 July 2021, reporting that the
anti-drug police of Gabon had seized more than five tonnes of cannabis resin in
a police statement issued that day.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Cannabis
5 t
Value (official estimate)
XAF 70,000,000,000
Agency type
Police
Cannabis
Hashish
Activity
Trafficking
Setting
Port or sea
Case stage
Under investigation
Sources
LSi Africalsi-africa.comFRGabon : saisie de plus de cinq tonnes de résine de cannabis au port d'Owendo
Yeclo.comyeclo.comFRGabon : saisie de plus de 5 tonnes de drogue au port d’Owendo
Open questions the AI reported
Neither account gives the number of suspects arrested, so no arrest figure is recorded.
No separate date for the search is given; 8 July 2021 is the day the police statement was reported.
The police statement was not opened directly; both opened accounts repeat it, with the second also carrying an unrelated article link.
No charges, custody decision or court outcome were reported for the people arrested.
The figure of 750 tonnes seized between 2018 and 2019 is a national total that belongs to another record and is not counted for this event.
Gabonese security and intelligence forces dismantled a cross-border drug network in Woleu-Ntem, seizing nearly 500 bundles of cannabis valued at about 16 million CFA francs. Investigators intercepted the drugs in Bitam and Méyo-Kyé near the Cameroon border and detained several suspects, including a woman near 70 and a 22-year-old student.
The Mouila prosecutor's office destroyed 750 kg of cannabis in fifteen 50 kg sacks on court orders around 14 October 2026. The drug, worth about 10 million FCFA, came from seizures stored under seal over several years.
Gabonese gendarmes seized 80 kg of cannabis in 225 bundles at Malinga near the Congolese border, arresting three suspects travelling in a food-transport vehicle. The haul was valued at nearly 10 million CFA francs and placed under seal pending a prosecutor-ordered investigation.
Gabon's OCLAD and three intelligence services seized 1.32 tonnes of cannabis, packed in 65 sacks and valued at nearly 800 million CFA francs, from a boat arriving from Nigeria. Eight Nigerian, Beninese, Togolese and Gabonese suspects were brought before the prosecutor and jailed at Libreville central prison on 3 August 2026.
