Two Iranians sentenced over 908 kg of hashish on dhow Al Ramani
The captain and a crew member of the flagless Iranian dhow Al Ramani were sentenced on 28 February 2025 after the vessel was boarded in Seychelles waters with 908.33 kg of cannabis resin and 9.65 kg of herbal cannabis. Each received concurrent terms, the longest twenty years.
On the afternoon of 4 June 2024, intelligence reached the Seychelles authorities
that an Iranian dhow was moving narcotics just outside the country’s exclusive
economic zone.[1]The Air Force found the vessel, a Coast Guard patrol ship
with a Special Forces team boarded it, and it was escorted to Port Victoria for
a full search.[1][2]
The search found 908.33 kg of cannabis resin and 9.65 kg of herbal cannabis on
board, alongside 7.3 kg of heroin and 3.25 kg of methamphetamine.[2][1]
The dhow’s captain, 48-year-old Mohammad Rafiei Pangand, and crew member
Malik Mohammad Zai, 54, pleaded guilty to four counts of importing the drugs
into Seychelles on the flagless vessel Al Ramani.[2]On 28 February 2025
both were sentenced to twenty years for the resin, six years for the heroin,
four years for the herbal cannabis and five years for the methamphetamine, all
running concurrently with no remission.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Convicted
2
Cannabis
917.98 kg
Prison
20 years (concurrent terms)
Agencies
Seychelles Coast Guard; Seychelles Air Force; Seychelles Police Force
The operations centre's initial police figure was 897.33 kg of cannabis resin; the report uses the laboratory net weight of 908.33 kg from the judgment.
The same dhow also carried 7.3 kg of heroin and 3.25 kg of methamphetamine, which are not counted in the cannabis figures.
The interception happened just outside the Seychelles exclusive economic zone, so no precise coordinates are given.
Seychelles’ Supreme Court sentenced Varis Preungprasob, 24, and Rutcha Pinitkarn, 21, to five years’ imprisonment each for importing cannabis after customs and police intercepted them on an Air Seychelles flight on 2 September 2025. Officers seized about 15.9 kg from each traveller.
The Supreme Court sentenced Nico Hertel, 32, to six years’ imprisonment on 11 September 2026 for importing cannabis found on 14 March 2025 hidden in car seats inside a container at the port. Hertel, who ran an auto business in Anse Etoile, changed his plea to guilty after first denying the charge.
Earonn Humphrey of Quatre Borne, Takamaka was sentenced on 31 January 2025 over thirty-one cannabis plants found on his farm in March 2020. He received two years in prison, suspended for two years, and a fine of SCR14,000.
Convicted 1Prison 2 years, suspended for 2 yearsFine SCR 14,000
Marie-Nanette Julie was sentenced on 26 March 2024 over twenty-one cannabis plants found at her home at Les Canelles, Mahé in 2019. She received one year in prison, suspended for two years, and a fine of SCR10,000.
Convicted 1Prison 1 year, suspended for 2 yearsFine SCR 10,000