17.2 kg of cannabis seized from a transit parcel at Mauritius airport
Customs officers of the Mauritius Revenue Authority's anti-narcotics section seized 17.2 kg of cannabis, valued at an estimated Rs 20.6 million, from a parcel declared as personal effects and in transit through Mauritius in December 2024. The cannabis, split into 16 packets, was handed to the Anti-Drug and Smuggling Unit at the airport.
🇲🇺 Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport, Plaine Magnien, Mauritius
Customs officers of the Mauritius Revenue Authority’s Anti-Narcotics Section
seized17.2 kg of cannabis in a parcel in transit on 8 December 2024, in an
operation carried out at the airport.[1]The parcel had been declared as
personal effects and was flagged on risk criteria and the history of earlier
seizures of similar parcels.[1]
Inside, officers found 16 packets of cannabis hidden in a box.[1]A
presumptive test confirmed the drug and a Mauritius Revenue Authority sniffer
dog also reacted positively.[1]The cannabis was secured and handed to the
Anti-Drug and Smuggling Unit (ADSU) at the airport for further investigation.[1]
ION News reported that the cannabis was bound for the Malagasy market and was in
transit to Mauritius from South Africa.[2]ION News gave the inspection date
as Monday 9 December 2024 and put the haul at 16 sachets weighing 17.2 kilos in
total.[2]ION News valued the seizure at about Rs 20 million in its headline
and dated its report 10 December 2024.[2]According to ION News sources at the
ADSU headquarters, a report was to be sent to the South African and Malagasy
authorities to strengthen cooperation against drug trafficking and
information-sharing among agencies in the Indian Ocean.[2]News Moris
republished the customs account in English, saying agents found 16 wrapped
packages of cannabis hidden inside a box.[3]
Photos and video
Photograph published with the report on the 17.2 kg cannabis parcel in transit through Mauritius. Photo: l'expressPhoto details
Sources disagree on the inspection date: l'express gives 8 December 2024, while ION News says the search was carried out on Monday 9 December 2024. The report uses 8 December, the date of the customs section's own account.
No arrests, charges or suspects were reported; neither account says who sent or was to receive the parcel.
The estimated value of Rs 20,640,000 is an official valuation and its basis is not stated.
The origin, destination and route come from ION News's own sources, not from a customs statement; l'express describes the parcel only as in transit through Madagascar.
The report does not know whether the investigation led to any arrest or court proceedings.
Anti-drug and customs officers arrested three Malaysian nationals at Plaisance airport after finding 70 packets of cannabis weighing 76 kg in their suitcases. The group had arrived from Dubai on flight EK 709 and was placed in police detention after a controlled delivery failed to draw the intended recipients.
Officers seized 10.94 kg of cannabis valued at Rs 16.41 million at SSR International Airport on 2 November 2026 and arrested a 30-year-old arriving from Dubai. A same-day controlled delivery was stopped on 3 November without a reported explanation.
Customs officers at Mauritius airport stopped a 70-year-old Malaysian man arriving on flight MK647 from Malaysia on 15 September 2026 and found 6.18 kg of cannabis hidden among clothing in his luggage, worth Rs 9.27 million. He was handed to the Anti-Drug and Smuggling Unit with the exhibits.
Mauritius's Financial Crimes Commission seized two speedboats at suspect Ravindra Chimajee's home on 7 September 2026 in the investigation into a failed 155.7 kg cannabis shipment from Bras-Panon, Réunion, to Mauritius. The boats, documents and satellite phones were taken to the FCC headquarters for forensic examination.
