NDEA seizes 58 kg of cannabis in two Mahé raids as four are remanded
Seychelles' anti-drug agency seized 18.2 kg of compressed cannabis at Cascade and 39.75 kg at Beoliere on 26 and 28 January 2015, worth almost R29 million. Four suspects aged 20 to 45 appeared in court and were remanded while the agency pursued an importation network believed to run from Madagascar by boat.
Four people between the ages of 20 and 45 appeared in court in connection with
the two seizures and were remanded in custody while investigations and drug
analysis continued.[1]Those arrested were believed to form part of an
importation and distribution network, and the agency said follow-up
investigations into others operating inside and outside the country were
ongoing.[1]
The National Drugs Enforcement Agency seized 18.2 kilogrammes of compressed
cannabis in the Cascade area on Monday 26 January 2015 and 39.75 kilogrammes in
the Beoliere area on Wednesday 28 January, bringing the two-day total to almost
58 kilogrammes.[1]The agency put the street value at almost R29 million and
said the drugs were believed to have come from Madagascar, shipped by local
operatives using privately owned boats.[1]
One of the four, Ralph Sonny Samedi, was charged withtrafficking the Beoliere
find: NDEA agents searching a Beoliere property on 28 January 2015 recovered
containers holding 32.493 kg of herbal cannabis, 1.559 kg of cannabis resin and
11.7 g of heroin, and Samedi was charged on all three counts.[2]The court
record confirms the date, place and quantities of the Beoliere search behind the
agency’s announcement.[2]
Photos and video
Photo published as "Some of the drugs seized" with the report on the two seizures.Photo details
The court exhibits for the Beoliere find weighed 32.493 kg of herbal cannabis and 1.559 kg of resin, less than the 39.75 kg announced, and the reason for the difference was not reported.
No account of the Cascade seizure beyond the agency's announcement was found.
The outcome of the prosecutions after the February 2017 ruling was not established from the sources opened.
Three of the four arrested people were never named in the sources opened.
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.
Anti-Narcotics Bureau and customs officers arrested five Seychellois after finding 3 kg of compressed cannabis on an Air Seychelles flight from Johannesburg. Two were caught at the airport and three more, including an airline technician, were arrested later.
Seychelles police arrested Terry Marie at Victoria's Inter Island Quay on 2 September 2000 with 369 grams of cannabis in a bag and 32 grams hidden in his underwear. Sentenced to the mandatory minimum of eight years for trafficking in 2004, he lost his appeal in October 2006.