Over 300 kg of cannabis seized at Kati bound for Senegal
Malian customs seized more than 300 kg of cannabis in 172 packages at Kati on the Bamako-Dakar road as it was being moved toward Senegal. The drivers and accomplices fled, abandoning two vehicles and the load, which officers took to Bamako.
Mali’s Mobile Intervention Brigade of Customs seized 172 packages of cannabis
weighing more than 300 kg at Kati, about fifteen kilometres from Bamako.[1]The operation took place during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday before 7
February 2014, as a load bound for Senegal moved along the Bamako-Dakar road
toward Dakar.[2]Officers of the brigade had discreetly followed the vehicle
to the exit of Kati on the Bamako-Dakar road after it was loaded with cannabis
that night.[1]The packages were carefully concealed under the chassis of a
Senegal-registered container platform trailer.[1]
A public-transport van was to take over moving the load once it reached its
destination.[2]A few kilometres farther on, a Mali-registered minibus
appeared to recover the cannabis packages.[1]The drivers and their
accomplices, identified as Senegalese, used the night to slip into the brush,
abandoning the vehicles and their cargo.[1]Officers took both vehicles and
their contents to the brigade’s courtyard in Bamako.[1]
Coulibaly said the seizure suggested Mali was becoming a transit hub for
narcotics to various destinations.[1]The seizure came only days after the
seizure of 400 kg of cannabis from a shop in the commercial centre of Bamako’s
central market.[1]
Photos and video
Photo of the cannabis seized at Kati bound for Senegal.Photo details
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Cannabis
300 kg
Agency type
Customs
Cannabis
Herbal cannabis (300 kg)
Activity
Smuggling
Setting
Vehicle
Case stage
Under investigation
Route
Mali → Senegal
Sources
Malijetmalijet.comFRDu chanvre indien saisi au Mali en partance pour le Sénégal
maliwebmaliweb.netFRDu chanvre indien saisi au Mali en partance pour le Sénégal
Open questions the AI reported
The article says only the night from Tuesday to Wednesday before its 7 February 2014 publication; 5 February 2014 is used as the incident date for the Wednesday end of that night.
The weight is reported as more than 300 kg, not an exact laboratory weight.
No arrests, names beyond the brigade chief, charges or court outcome were reported; those involved fled into the brush.
Both opened pages reprint the same PANA dispatch from the Directorate General of Customs, so no independent second account was available.
The 400 kg cannabis seizure in Bamako's central market mentioned at the end is a separate event left out of this report.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in maliweb: Brigade chief Inspector Mohamed Coulibaly said he ordered his men to act during that unloading operation.
On the evening of 17 September 2026 Bamako’s mobile customs brigade stopped a goods truck at Sénou and seized 230 kg of cannabis hidden under plastic waste. The driver and his apprentice fled. Customs valued the load at 312 million CFA francs.
On 6 September 2026 Malian customs at the PK 11 post in Koutiala found 5.60 kg of cannabis and 4,000 tramadol tablets in a passenger's backpack on a bus from Yorosso to Bamako. The passenger, described as a pupil, was arrested.
On 21 August 2026 customs officers at the Kayes wharf intercepted a national of an English-speaking West African country carrying ten bricks of cannabis. The authorities gave no weight or destination for the cannabis, and the companion flour and pasta seizure is excluded from cannabis figures.
On 25 July 2025 Mali’s customs intelligence service intercepted two freight trucks from a neighbouring country and seized 104 balls of cannabis hidden in fitted compartments. No official weight was announced and no arrests were reported in the accounts.
