National police intercepted a lorry carrying cannabis on Monday 25 July 2016 at the Kpéta-Bèna post in Wawa Prefecture in Togo’s Plateaux Region.[1] Three Togolese nationals travelling with the load were arrested, the driver, his apprentice and the escort.[2] The three detainees told police they had believed the cargo was pagnes, lengths of wraparound cloth.[1] Two other people who were aboard the vehicle fled and were still being sought.[2] The cannabis was being conveyed from Ghana toward Benin.[3]

Officers searching the load found 3,955 loaves and 6 balls of cannabis weighing a total of 3,600 kg, carefully packed and concealed under firewood.[1] The vehicle was a 10-tonne lorry registered RT 2041 AH whose suspicious parcels drew the attention of officers from the Kpéta-Bèna police post.[1] Plateaux police sector commissioner Kolani Nanangue was named as the officer giving the account of the search and seizure.[2] Police said the name of the intended recipient was visible on each parcel.[1]

The load had been covered with firewood to evade the vigilance of the security forces.[3] The commissioner credited the cooperation of local people for the success of the operation.[2]