Kazakhstan reports 2 tonnes of marijuana among 3.5 tonnes of drugs seized in four months
Kazakhstan's interior ministry reported that police seized about 2 tonnes of marijuana and 303 kg of hashish between January and April 2025, within a combined haul of about 3.5 tonnes of drugs. Officers detained 1,783 people, arrested 669 of them and shut 83 underground drug laboratories.
Kazakhstan’s interior ministry said police recorded almost 3,000 drug offences,
including 828 sales, in the first four months of 2025.[1]Over the same period
officers seized about 3.5 tonnes of drugs, among them about 2 tonnes of
marijuana and 303 kg of hashish.[1]The 3.5 tonnes also included 259 kg of
synthetic drugs, and almost 6 tonnes of precursors were taken out of
circulation.[2]Police said they shut down 83 underground drug laboratories
and broke up 20 organised criminal groups.[1]
Officers detained 1,783 people in the four months, of whom 669 were arrested and
held.[2]More than 11,000 websites and 12,000 bank accounts and cards worth
more than 1 billion tenge were blocked, according to the head of the interior
ministry’s drug crime committee.[3]
In one April case in Kosshy, a man from Akmola Region was detained with 6.5 kg
of the synthetic drug a-PVP found in a search of his car, and his alleged
accomplices in North Kazakhstan Region were then detained with another kilogram.[1]In April police in Astana detained a resident of Aktobe holding 2.5 kg of
synthetic drugs; all the suspects in these cases were placed in temporary
detention centres.[4]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
El.kzel.kzRUМВД: с начала года в Казахстане изъято 3,5 тонны наркотиков и ликвидировано 83 нарколаборатории
Kazinforminform.kzRUВ Казахстане пресечена деятельность 83 нарколабораторий и 20 ОПГ
Polisia.kzpolisia.kzRUМВД: За 4 месяца изъято порядка 3,5 тонны наркотических средств
Open questions the AI reported
Kazakhstan is a whole-country campaign total; no region-by-region breakdown of the marijuana or hashish seizures was published.
The 1,783 detained and 669 arrested are figures for all drug offences in the period, not for cannabis cases alone.
The 83 laboratories are described as drug laboratories; the sources do not say which drugs each produced, so they are recorded as sites without attributing them to cannabis.
The hashish and marijuana amounts are given as about 2 tonnes and 303 kg; no precise measured weights were published.
The 12,000 bank accounts and cards worth more than 1 billion tenge were blocked in drug cases generally, and no cannabis share is stated; no cash figure is recorded.
The 259 kg of synthetic drugs and almost 6 tonnes of precursors are excluded from the cannabis figures because they are not cannabis.
The article gives no single date for the operations; the period January to April 2025 is used, and 12 May 2025 is the date the ministry released the figures.
The April synthetic-drug cases in Kosshy and Astana are mentioned in the same release and are not part of the cannabis figures; they could support their own reports if fuller accounts are found.
Left out agencies, as its quotation was not found in Министерство внутренних дел Республики Казахстан.
Police in Atameken village, Munaily District, stopped a 48-year-old man's Opel Vectra during the Qarasora and Kanal operations and found two packets holding about 2 kg 355 g of plant material thought to be marijuana. A criminal case was opened under article 297 and the suspect was placed in a temporary detention facility.
Akmola Region police reported seizing 188 kg of cannabis-group substances during the 2026 Qarasora operation, which ran from 1 June to 30 October. They also issued 106 orders to destroy wild cannabis and detained 18 people accused of distributing drugs through hidden stashes.
Kazakhstan's security service detained three foreigners and two Kazakh citizens on 1 November 2026 in a Caspian Sea operation against an international drug channel. Officers seized 27 kg of hashish and 60 kg of marijuana, plus 22 kg of opium and a fast boat, and opened a pre-trial investigation.
Officers from five Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) states, joined by Chinese and Iranian representatives, seized more than 11.4 tonnes of drugs, including more than 1,260 kg of marijuana and over 232 kg of hashish, in the five-day "Canal – Caspian Lighthouse" operation. They detained 376 suspected traffickers and broke up 101 drug groups.
