About 400 hectares of cannabis destroyed in the Karone Islands in 2025
On 25 June 2025 Interior Minister Jean-Baptiste Tine said defence and security forces had destroyed about 400 hectares of cannabis in the Karone Islands of Casamance and seized some 4,000 kg in a two-phase campaign that year; a mid-June phase alone reported 12 arrests.
On Wednesday 25 June 2025, in Ziguinchor, Interior and Public Security Minister Jean-Baptiste Tine
presented the results of combined security operations against cannabis (chanvre indien) in the
Karone Islands of Casamance.[1][2]He said about 400 hectares of cultivated land there had been
destroyed that year and some 4,000 kg of cannabis seized — a result he called exceptional.[1][2]Le Soleil reported that the national operation had been run in two phases by the armed forces, the
gendarmerie and customs, and that the seized 4,000 kg were held at the southern regional customs
subdivision.[2]
Kewoulo described a joint army, gendarmerie and customs operation from 14 to 20 June 2025 on the
islands of Hilol, Kouba, Salé Ndiaye, Itouta and Kaïlo that destroyed 225 hectares and seized more
than three tonnes, including 300 kg of seeds.[3]In that phase, it said, 535 people were checked
and 12 were arrested, including four Guinean nationals.[3]
Tine said the work required mutualising means across the defence and security forces over a long
period, and that repression should be paired with opening up the islands and replacing the crop with
food alternatives.[1][2]The Karone Islands sit in the Casamance estuary north of the Ziguinchor
region and are hard to reach through the mangrove.[1]
Photos and video
Officials and uniformed officers stand behind large sacks presented after the Casamance cannabis operations.Photo details
Le Soleillesoleil.snFRLutte contre le trafic de chanvre indien : Jean-Baptiste Tine félicite les forces de défense et appelle à une riposte multisectorielle
Kewoulo's account of the 14–20 June phase alone gives 225 hectares destroyed and more than three tonnes seized, below the minister's year-total of about 400 hectares and 4,000 kg for two phases.
The 12 arrests and four Guinean nationals come from the mid-June phase report; the minister's 25 June briefing as opened does not repeat an arrest total.
APS and Le Soleil do not break the 4,000 kg into dried cannabis versus seeds; Kewoulo says the mid-June haul included 300 kg of seeds.
On 30 October 2026 Senegal's navy raided cannabis-growing sites at Boune and Bocko in the Karone Islands, burning fields and seizing 37 bags of cannabis and four 20-litre containers of seeds. No arrests were made as the growers had fled before troops arrived.
Senegal's armed forces said commando troops destroyed seven fields of chanvre indien on 17 October 2026 in North Sindian, south-east of Tandine in Bignona department, as part of border security work in Casamance. No arrests were reported.
Military Zone No. 5 ran a joint security sweep on Salindiyaye in the Karones archipelago on 8 October 2026 and found several chanvre indien fields. The navy base at Ziguinchor and gendarmes took part; no one was arrested and searches continued.
Senegal's army said its commando battalion had destroyed more than 50 hectares of hemp in northern Sindian near the Gambian border since 7 October 2024, valued at more than 2 billion CFA francs, answering local pleas about trafficking and lost farmland.
