RABAT: Moroccan police seized a “record” 27.3 tons of cannabis resin hidden in trucks bound for Europe, the country’s security service said Monday.
The drugs were discovered Sunday evening at the vast Tanger Med port in three vehicles “believed to be transporting industrial equipment,” the General Directorate for National Security said in a statement.
The “record” quantity of resin was found “divided among 16 containers in the trailers of the three trucks,” the statement added.
The drivers and their three assistants, all Moroccan, were arrested and taken into police custody.
Tanger Med in northern Morocco is one of Africa’s largest ports and is within sight of the Spanish coast.
Morocco is one of the main global producers and exporters of cannabis resin, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Production is concentrated in the north of the country, where some 47,000 hectares of agricultural land were used for cannabis cultivation, according to UNODC statistics from 2016.
Moroccan police seized 52 tons of cannabis resin last year, according to official figures.
Morocco seizes ‘record’ 27.3 tons of cannabis resin
Morocco seizes ‘record’ 27.3 tons of cannabis resin
- The drugs were discovered Sunday evening at the vast Tanger Med port in three vehicles
Syria evacuates flood-affected residents of displacement camps in Idlib
- Emergency teams conduct drainage operations, clear culverts within camps, reopen more than 25 roads, 30 water channels
- Teams coordinate with Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, Idlib governor’s office to oversee distribution of humanitarian aid
LONDON: Authorities from the Syrian Arab Republic have evacuated dozens of families from six displacement camps in western Idlib in the past two days after severe weather caused flooding and damage.
Raed Al-Saleh, the Syrian minister of emergency and disaster management, said 173 families had been moved from camps in Badama and Khirbet Al-Jouz to temporary shelter centers in Idlib Governorate.
Emergency teams have conducted drainage operations, cleared culverts within the camps, reopened more than 25 roads and 30 water channels, and removed five earthen berms as part of preparation for further weather systems, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency.
They are coordinating with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, and the Idlib governor’s office to oversee the distribution of humanitarian aid.
A rubble removal and road restoration project in Jabal Al-Akrad in the Latakia Governorate has also been initiated to help facilitate residents’ return, the SANA added.
Heavy rainfall in northern and western Syria has resulted in flash floods since Saturday that have swept through areas near seasonal waterways in western Idlib Governorate. The floods have submerged several tents and prompted authorities to evacuate families and open temporary shelters for those displaced.
