Venezuela and France seize 1,727 kg of marijuana in the Caribbean
Venezuela’s interior ministry said the National Guard, the navy and the French navy seized 1,727.40 kg of marijuana and 1,173.50 kg of cocaine at sea in the Caribbean and arrested four people. The detainees and the drugs were sent to prosecutors.
Venezuela’s Ministry of Interior, Justice and Peace said four people were arrested in a maritime
interdiction in the Caribbean.[1][2][3][4]The Bolivarian National Guard’s special anti-drug unit UEA-45
La Guaira, coastguard units of the Bolivarian Navy and the French navy took part.[2][3]Radio
Nacional de Venezuela published the ministry’s account on 16 October 2026.[1]
Officers seized 166 bales holding 4,152 cakes of drugs: 1,173.50 kilograms of cocaine and 1,727.40
kilograms of marijuana, 2,900.90 kilograms in all.[1][2][3]The people arrested and the drugs were
placed at the disposal of the public prosecutor.[1][2][3]The government thanked France for the naval
help.[2][3]The reports do not name the four people or say where in the Caribbean the boat was
stopped.[1][2]
French accounts of the same interdiction say French forces stopped the Venezuelan fishing vessel
on 13 October and handed the vessel, its crew and the seized cargo to the Venezuelan authorities
for legal proceedings.[5][6]They describe three October operations in which French vessels seized
6.9 tonnes of cocaine and 1.7 tonnes of marijuana in total, with the Venezuelan boat’s 166 bales
holding both drugs.[5][6]
Deputy Minister Oliver Blanco confirmed the seized drugs were cocaine and marijuana and said the operation complied with international law.[3][7]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
El Nacionalelnacional.comESVenezuela confirmó la detención de cuatro personas durante incautación de 2,9 toneladas de droga en el mar Caribe con apoyo de Francia
The four people arrested are not named, and no exact position at sea is given.
El Nacional’s picture is labelled an archive image, so no photo of this seizure is listed here.
The same seizure included 1,173.50 kg of cocaine, which is outside this report’s cannabis weight.
El Universal's Facebook video gives only the rounded 2.9 tonnes of cocaine and marijuana together and does not separate the marijuana weight, which comes from the interior ministry statement as reported by Prensa Latina.
The video does not say where in the Caribbean the boat was stopped or name the four detained people.
The Bolivarian National Guard stopped a go-fast boat off Falcón and arrested three people. The load was 1,485.506 kg of marijuana in 1,726 cakes and 8.856 kg of cocaine in nine cakes, after intelligence work with French customs.
CICPC officers dismantled the organised crime group "El Clan de Los Salas" in Píritu, Falcón, seizing 274.8 kg of marijuana in 482 cakes from a rural house used as a collection point for shipments to the Caribbean. The 59-year-old owner of the property was arrested and handed to the 21st drugs prosecutor, while the men guarding the load escaped.
Police officers of the Bolivarian National Police (CPNB) intelligence directorate in Nueva Esparta carried out an operation on Cubagua island that ended with two men detained. The officers seized more than 800 kilograms of presumed marijuana packed in 1,529 wrappers, along with GPS devices, mobile phones and a generator.
Bolivarian National Guard troops detained one man at the Corozopando checkpoint in Guárico after finding 20.020 kilograms of suspected marijuana hidden on a public bus. The 27 packages were inside a 70-litre drum, and the man and the drugs were handed to prosecutors.
