Tunisia's customs reported 200 kg of cannabis seized in eight months
Tunisia's customs service seized 200 kg of cannabis, known locally as zatla, at border crossings in the first eight months of 2024, alongside more than 31 kg of cocaine and 745,000 narcotic tablets. Spokesman Colonel Chokri Jabri gave the totals on 3 September 2024, a day after airport officers arrested a woman and her contact over 6.5 kg of smuggled cocaine.
Tunisia’s customs service seized200 kg of cannabis, known locally as zatla, at
the country’s border crossings in the first eight months of 2024, its spokesman
Colonel Chokri Jabri said.[1]Jabri announced the eight-month figures on
Tuesday 3 September 2024 in Mosaïque FM’s morning programme “Sbeh Ennes”.[1]The same customs total counted more than 31 kg of cocaine and 745,000 narcotic
tablets, listed separately from the cannabis.[1]The Mosaïque FM report of the
same phone interview gives the cannabis weight as 200 kg of zatla, the Tunisian
name for cannabis resin, alongside more than 31 kg of cocaine and 745,000
narcotic tablets.[2]
In a separate case, customs units at Tunis-Carthage airport seized more than 6.5
kg of cocaine the day before, on Monday 2 September 2024, hidden in the soles of
12 shoes and in the lining of a suitcase.[1]The cocaine was carried by a
woman passenger from sub-Saharan Africa who had arrived from an Arab country,
and the representative of a private clinic who met her was also arrested.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
2
Cannabis
200 kg
Agency type
Customs
Cannabis
Hashish
Activity
Smuggling
Setting
Airport, Port or sea, Land border
Case stage
Under investigation
Sources
Kapitaliskapitalis.comFRTunisie : saisie de 200 kg de cannabis et 31 kg de cocaïne en 8 mois
No individual seizure, border crossing or suspect behind the 200 kg of cannabis was identified; the report covers only the eight-month total announced on 3 September 2024, with 31 August 2024 as the reported end of the period.
The date used is the day Jabri announced the figures; the seizures themselves happened at various times between January and August 2024.
The cannabis figure is stated as exactly 200 kg, without saying whether it was resin, herbal cannabis or both; the Arabic account calls it zatla.
No value for the cannabis and no number of customs cases or people arrested over it were published.
The 6.5 kg airport cocaine case and the arrest of the passenger and her clinic contact involve no cannabis and are not counted in the figures.
Kapitalis and Mosaïque FM report the same phone interview, and 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.
