96.3 kg of cannabis found in shoe parcels at Tunis-Carthage; recipient held
Tunisian customs found 96.3 kg of cannabis hidden in the soles of shoes in parcels at the cargo terminal of Tunis-Carthage airport, spokesman Chokri Jabri said on 27 February 2025. The recipient of the parcels, a foreigner preparing to leave the country, was arrested and handed to security services for further investigation.
Tunisian customs officers found cannabis hidden in parcels at the cargo terminal
of Tunis-Carthage airport and arrested one person.[1]The parcels were
declared as clothing and shoes arriving from abroad.[1]Officers became
suspicious of certain shoe parcels and found the cannabis packed inside the shoe
soles.[2]The exact weight of the cannabis seized was 96.3 kg.[3]
All goods arriving from abroad are scanned and searched, customs said.[2]The
parcels’ recipient, a foreigner preparing to leave the country, was identified
and arrested.[2]Officers drew up an offence report against him for importing
banned goods without authorisation.[2]After consulting prosecutors, customs
handed the suspect and the drug to the security services for further
investigation.[2]
Customs spokesman Colonel-Major Chokri Jabri announced the seizure in a phone
interview with Mosaïque FM on 27 February 2025.[2]In the same interview Jabri
said customs had seized seven kilos of cocaine and more than one hundred kilos
of cannabis at border points since the start of the year.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
No day is given for the customs inspection or the arrest; 27 February 2025, when the spokesman announced the case, is used as the incident date.
The accounts give only about 100 kg, or exactly 96.3 kg, of cannabis, and do not say whether it was herbal cannabis or resin.
The suspect's nationality, name and age were not published; he is described only as a foreigner preparing to leave the country.
No charge before a court, detention order or trial outcome was reported; the case was referred to the security services for further investigation.
No value for the seized cannabis was published.
The year-to-date figures of 30,000 tablets, seven kilos of cocaine and more than 100 kg of cannabis given in the same interview cover all of Tunisia's border points and are not counted as figures for this seizure.
The three accounts all report the same Mosaïque FM interview; no separate customs statement or court record was opened.
Tunisia's customs administration said customs guard units seized more than 153 kg of cannabis at border crossings and inside the country in the first nine months of 2026, alongside more than 101 kg of cocaine and 18.6 million narcotic tablets. Spokesman Colonel Chokri Jabri said customs opened more than 11,000 cases in the period involving goods worth over 190 million dinars.
Security units in Sousse Sud, Tunisia, seized 30 slabs of cannabis resin, known as zatla, on the evening of 31 October 2026 and seized a car. Radio Marina reported that a suspect was arrested and detained on the public prosecutor's authorisation, while the search for other members of the network continued.
Tunisia's National Guard seized 110 slabs of cannabis resin, known as zatla, and 338 pieces of cannabis across the country during September 2026. Its general directorate said in a video that the month's anti-drug operations also led to the detention of 1,515 people.
The interior ministry reported on 7 March 2026 that 2025 brought 181,998 judicial cases in total, 14,300 of them drug-trafficking cases, and 69,164 arrests, 20,289 for drug trafficking. It also reported seizures of cannabis, 479,830 tablets, 146.77 kg of cocaine and 751.25 g of heroin. The figures cover police and national guard, not customs.
