65 kg of marijuana seized at sea in French-Venezuelan operation
On the night of 2 October 2016 the French Navy frigate Germinal intercepted a drug-trafficking go-fast west of Dominica after its rendezvous with a Venezuelan fishing boat, recovering 65 kg of marijuana alongside 55 kg of cocaine. The fishing boat, its crew, the drugs and a large sum of cash were handed to the Venezuelan coast guard for judicial proceedings.
🇫🇷 At sea, about 40 nautical miles west of Dominica · France
In the night of 2 October 2016, the French Navy surveillance frigate Germinal
intercepted a go-fast suspected of drug trafficking about forty nautical miles
west of the island of Dominica, after a rendezvous at sea with a fishing vessel.[1][2]Chased by the frigate and its Panther helicopter, the go-fast threw several
bales into the sea before fleeing.[1][2]The fishing vessel was identified as
Venezuelan, and with the agreement of the French prosecutor and the Venezuelan
authorities, the Germinal’s boarding team inspected it and found a large sum of
money.[3]At the request of the Venezuelan authorities, the fishing vessel,
its crew, the seized drugs and the money were handed over to the Venezuelan
coast guard patrol boat Guaicamacuto for their judicial proceedings.[1]
The bales recovered by the Germinal’s team held an estimated 55 kilograms of
cocaine, described as the equivalent of 140,000 sachets, and 65 kilograms of
marijuana, described as the equivalent of 130,000 joints.[3]France-Antilles
reported the same interception west of Dominica, with 55 kg of cocaine and 65 kg
of marijuana recovered.[4]
The French customs attaché at the embassy in Caracas coordinated the French and
Venezuelan resources on the zone, and the seizure was presented as strengthening
France-Venezuela cooperation against maritime drug trafficking.[1]The
operation brought the 2016 total to nearly 3.68 tonnes of drugs intercepted at
sea by the joint action of all state services in the Antilles maritime zone.[1]
Photos and video
The handover of the seizure to the Venezuelan patrol boat. Photo: Marine NationalePhoto details
No number of people aboard the go-fast or the fishing vessel was published, and no arrests, charges or court outcome were reported; the crew was handed to the Venezuelan coast guard for its judicial proceedings, whose result is unknown.
The 55 kg of cocaine and the seized cash belong to the same mixed seizure but are excluded from cannabis figures; no separate cannabis valuation was published.
Only one release of the Forces armées aux Antilles communiqué and two brief local retellings were found, and the France-Antilles articles are partly paywalled, so no independent investigation of the seizure was available.
The 2016 year-to-date total of nearly 3.68 tonnes covers all drugs intercepted in the Antilles maritime zone, not cannabis alone.
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On 3 November 2026 a Paris court ended a mother's social-housing lease after several kilos of cannabis and cash were found in her son's bedroom, put at 6.5 kg. The court accepted she paid rent, had no neighbour complaints and knew nothing of her son's activity.
