Three arrested as 16.415 kg of cannabis seized in Koudougou case
Gendarmes arrested three people, including two students and a shop employee, in a cannabis case spanning Koudougou and Ouagadougou on 5–6 June 2021, seizing 16.415 kg. They referred all three to Koudougou's public prosecutor for further judicial proceedings.
The Koudougou gendarmerie’s research brigade arrested three people for
trafficking chanvre indien in June 2021, including two students and a shop
employee.[1]Wakat Séra explained that chanvre indien is a subspecies of
Cannabis sativa used to make marijuana.[1]The case began with a 1 June 2021
complaint about a suspected wallet theft that led gendarmes to a first-year
modern-literature student at Université Norbert Zongo in Koudougou.[2]Gendarmes arrested the student on 5 June and searched his home, where they found
cannabis he was selling in Koudougou.[2]
The student told investigators that a wholesaler in Ouagadougou supplied him and
said he would help them arrest the supplier.[2]On 6 June, a gendarmerie team
sent to Ouagadougou arrested two wholesalers, another student and a shop
employee, and seized cannabis packed in slabs for delivery.[2]Wakat Séra
named the Koudougou student Baba Emmanuel Sia and the Ouagadougou wholesalers
William Kientega and Moumoula Zoulka.[1]
Koaci said Zoulka held 12.670 kg of cannabis packed for delivery.[3]LeFaso
gave the gendarmerie’s total seizure as 16.415 kg of chanvre indien.[4]Burkina24 reported that the three people arrested had more than 16 kg of
cannabis in their possession.[2]
The gendarmerie referred all three to the prosecutor at Koudougou’s Tribunal de
Grande Instance for further judicial proceedings.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
3
Cannabis
16.415 kg
Agency type
Gendarmerie, Prosecutor
Cannabis
Herbal cannabis (16.415 kg)
Activity
Trafficking
Setting
Home, Shop
Case stage
Under investigation
Sources
Wakat Sérawakatsera.comFRBurkina: deux étudiants impliqués dans une affaire de «plus de 16 kg de chanvre indien»
Burkina24.comburkina24.comFRBurkina Faso : Deux étudiants et un employé de commerce interpellés pour trafic de chanvre indien
KOACIkoaci.comFRBurkina Faso : Plus de 16 kg de drogue saisis auprès de trafiquants dont des étudiants
LeFaso.netlefaso.netFRLutte contre la drogue : La Gendarmerie saisit plus de 16 kilogrammes de chanvre indien
Open questions the AI reported
The arrests took place on 5 and 6 June; 6 June is used as the incident date because it was when the two Ouagadougou wholesalers were arrested.
Koaci's itemized amounts of 0.175 kg, 12.670 kg and 3.5 kg sum to 16.345 kg, while LeFaso and Koaci report a total of 16.415 kg; the reported total is retained.
The first student's name appears as Baba Emmanuel Sia, Sia Emmanuel and Sia Emmanuel Baba in the accounts; Wakat Séra's ordering is used here.
The three suspects were referred to the prosecutor, but the sources do not establish whether formal charges were filed or what the court outcome was.
The accounts cite the gendarmerie's press dossier, so they do not provide independent official confirmation.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in KOACI: Koaci reported that the search of Sia's room found a 0.175 kg package of cannabis.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in KOACI: Koaci reported that Kientéga possessed slabs weighing 3.5 kg.
The Anti-Drug Unit of the Judicial Police announced on 29 September 2026 that it had dismantled a cannabis trafficking and sales network in Ouagadougou, seizing nearly 86 kg of cannabis plus adulterated drinks, contraband cigarettes and psychotropics supplied from a neighbouring country and gold-mining sites.
Burkina Faso gendarmes arrested three men between 8 and 12 October 2025 in Boli and Koumbili villages, Guiaro department, and destroyed their cannabis fields. The suspects admitted growing and selling cannabis for local consumption, and investigations for accomplices continue.
Burkina Faso's regional judicial police in Koulsé seized 575.15 kg of cannabis in Kaya and Ouagadougou and arrested one network member, police said on 25 September 2025. The same day the central police station in Pô arrested two travellers carrying 20.5 kg of cannabis on National Road 5.
Police in Bobo-Dioulasso arrested a 61-year-old suspected trafficker and seized about 200 slabs of cannabis stored in a field outside the city. He told officers the cannabis came by motorcycle from a neighbouring country to supply Bobo and Mali over four years.
