Tangier customs seized a record 35 tonnes of hashish in 2007
Customs officers at the port of Tangier seized 35 tonnes of hashish across hundreds of operations in 2007, a national record then valued at 140 million euros on the European market. They arrested 437 people, about half of them foreigners.
Moroccan customs officers seized35 tonnes of hashish at Tangier in hundreds of
operations during 2007, a record haul then valued at an estimated 140 million euros on
the European market.[1]The northern port sits a short ferry ride from Europe, and
smugglers hid resin in ever more ingenious vehicle concealments to get past its
inspectors.[1]
People caught
Officers arrested 437 people over the year, about half of them foreigners, including 78
Spanish, 61 French and 22 Portuguese nationals.[1]Abdelhalek Marzouki, the customs
director for northern Morocco, said smugglers study customs methods and constantly invent
new ones.[1]Those caught face up to 10 years in prison.[1]
Record confirmed
Reuters confirmed the 35-tonne Tangier total for 2007, up 25 percent on 2006, as Morocco
remained the world’s biggest exporter of processed cannabis.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The arrest count's scope is unclear: the dispatch ties 437 arrests to the Tangier customs effort but names a northern-region customs director, so port-only versus regional coverage is not certain.
No per-operation breakdown of the hundreds of seizures behind the 35-tonne total was published.
The 140-million-euro figure is a European-market estimate in the customs account, not a measured sale price.
No photograph of the 2007 seizures with a recoverable direct image address was found in the opened sources.
Royal Gendarmerie officers in Kalaat Sraghna raided an olive grove bordering Marchouh commune, seizing hashish, cannabis ears and traditional spirit, and arrested one suspect. The gendarmes said investigations were continuing to identify and arrest the others involved.
Royal Gendarmerie officers in Larache province arrested two men caught crushing cannabis at Douar Mahir, in Bni Garfat commune, and seized 2.26 tonnes of kif, of which 1,360 kilograms were stems and 900 kilograms already crushed material. The two were held in police custody under a prosecutor's inquiry, and the seized cannabis was destroyed under a mixed commission.
Royal Gendarmerie officers arrested four men and seized more than two tonnes of kif and smuggled tobacco from three vehicles in the Aoulouz area of Taroudant province, Morocco. The four were held on the public prosecutor's orders for an inquiry into where the shipment came from and where it was going.
Police in Tinghir province stopped a car on the outskirts of Boumalne Dadès on 29 October 2026 and found 28 kilograms of chira, the cannabis resin known as hashish, hidden in its bodywork. Four people, two of them women, were arrested and remanded to Ouarzazate prison, and investigators suspect one woman's husband directed the network from his cell.
