On 6 May 2023, the Gaya departmental branch of Niger’s Central Office for the Repression of Illicit Drug Trafficking (OCRTIS) broke up a drug-trafficking network operating between Benin and Niger.[1] Officers arrested three Nigerien nationals in the operation.[1] The cannabis was found in a house in the Koira-Tegui district of Gaya that was lived in by one of the traffickers.[1] The suspects and the seized goods were presented to the press in the presence of Prosecutor General Chaibou Moussa.[1]

Officers seized 917 bricks of cannabis weighing 812.5 kg, about one tonne.[2] Police put the purchase value of the cannabis at 36,680,000 CFA francs.[1] Officers also seized two motorcycles and 435,000 CFA francs in cash.[2]

Police said Gaya department had gradually become the epicentre of large-scale drug trafficking brought into Niger by river using pirogues.[2] Once brought in across the River Niger, the drugs were collected and stored in riverside villages before being carried by motorcyclists toward Nigeria or into Niger’s interior.[2] Officers said most of the seized drugs were intended to supply local demand.[2]