Congolese police seize more than 2 tonnes of cannabis in Usalama 5
Congo's national police announced the seizure of more than 2 tonnes of cannabis during Usalama 5, a joint regional operation against cross-border crime launched on 27 September 2018. The results were presented to the press in Kinshasa on 24 October, and the police gave no breakdown by province or arrests for the cannabis alone.
🇨🇩 Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo · DR Congo
Congo’s national police announced the seizure of more than 2 tonnes of cannabis
as part of a joint regional police operation called Usalama 5.[1]Colonel
Pierrot Mwanamputu, spokesman for the Congolese national police, presented the
operation’s results to the press in Kinshasa on Wednesday 24 October 2018.[1]The operation was launched on 27 September 2018 against cross-border and
transnational crime in the member countries of EAPCCO, the Eastern Africa Police
Chiefs Cooperation Organisation, and SARPCCO, the Southern African Regional
Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation.[1]
Judicial police units and mobile intervention groups carried out the field work
and brought suspected offenders before the public prosecutor’s office, the
police said.[1]In the Democratic Republic of the Congo the operation covered
twelve provincial police commands, in Kinshasa, Kongo-Central, Lualaba,
Haut-Katanga, Tanganyika, South Kivu, Ituri, Haut-Uele, Kasaï, Kasaï-Central,
Kwango and North Kivu.[1]The police statement also reported the recovery in
Pointe-Noire, Republic of the Congo, of a Congolese child who had been deported
to Gabon and the discovery of a large quantity of Sim Box equipment in the home
of expatriates.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Cannabis
2 t
Agency type
Police, Prosecutor
Cannabis
Herbal cannabis (2 t)
Setting
Home
Sources
Radio Okapiradiookapi.netFROpération « Usalama 5 » : la police dit avoir saisi plus de 2 tonnes de cannabis
Open questions the AI reported
The police gave only "more than 2 tonnes" without an exact weight or a laboratory figure, so 2,000 kg is recorded as the stated minimum.
No arrests, charges, plant counts, field area or value were reported for the cannabis component; the article names no one detained over the seizure.
The results were announced on 24 October 2018 for an operation launched on 27 September 2018, and the article does not say on which day the cannabis was seized or where in the twelve covered provinces.
Only one opened account of the press conference was found; no separate police statement or second outlet report of the same result could be opened.
The article does not say whether the cannabis was dried plant material, resin or another product.
The same press conference reported an unrelated vehicle theft case and Sim Box equipment, which are left out of this report.
Security services incinerated at least five sacks of hemp seized from shops in Biakato, along with high-strength alcohol and expired goods, at a public ceremony at the local stadium on 7 October 2026; no sellers were named or arrested in the reports.
Security services intercepted 17 packages of cannabis at the SNCC freight yard in Mwene-Ditu on 4 September 2026 as they were about to leave by train toward Katanga. Mayor Gérard Tshibanda Kabwe watched them burned at city hall alongside urban security council members and SNCC officials.
On 16 December 2025 Kinshasa’s judicial police narcotics unit seized 56 sacks of cannabis hidden in a container during checks at Mitendi, west of the capital, and arrested suppliers with more sacks and kraft paper used for retail packs.
On 14 March 2025 police in Matadi arrested Mavambu Kitsofi, alias Muke Tonga, and FARDC adjutant Barumé Moïse during Operation Ndobo, seizing 10 sacks of cannabis and kraft paper rolls used for retail packaging.
