Polish border guards seize 1.2 tonnes of cannabis hidden in Thai bricks

Polish border guards seized 1,194 kg of cannabis hidden in shipments of laterite bricks sent from Thailand through the German port of Hamburg to Poland, officials said on 2 July 2026.^[1][2] The Border Guard estimated the haul’s street value at PLN 48 million, about €11.2 million.^[1]

Officers from the Border Guard’s maritime unit in Gdańsk found 815 kg in a first container inspected in Hamburg and another 379 kg in a second container destined for the same recipient in Poland.^[1] The cannabis was concealed inside specially modified bricks.^[1]

Four men, including the owner of the company that was to receive the shipment, were detained in Szczecin on 6 May during an attempted unloading; four more were detained near Poznań on 15 June.^[1] Six were placed in pre-trial detention for three months, one was released after questioning and one was placed under police supervision.^[1]

Prosecutors charged the suspects with importing and smuggling large quantities of narcotics in the European Union; three also face charges of participating in an organised criminal group, offences that carry up to 20 years in prison.^[1] The investigation, supervised by the National Public Prosecutor’s Office’s organised crime and corruption unit in Gdańsk, involved German customs in Hanover, a joint anti-drug task force in Oldenburg, Europol and Eurojust.^[1] Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński described the operation as the Border Guard’s largest anti-drug seizure in recent years.^[1]