Police believe that the seized cannabis was intended for an international maritime drug trafficking operation.
Rabat – Moroccan police arrested three individuals for their alleged involvement with a drug trafficking network on May 4.
Police seized 7.238 tons of cannabis resin from a truck bearing false license plates.
Security services had been following the truck during its passage through several cities towards the port of Jorf Lasfar.
The driver and two other accomplices threw some bundles containing drugs onto the side of the highway, a statement from the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) said.
The defendants fled the truck when they arrived at the toll station of Tit Mellil highway near the Casablanca highway bypass, causing material damage to the toll station.
The individuals abandoned the truck which contained 220 bundles of drugs holding more than seven tons of cannabis resin.
Investigations enabled security services to arrest two suspects in a different car, where police discovered a bundle of drugs.
The bundle was one part of the cannabis shipment that suspects threw from the truck, the DGSN said.
Police then arrested another suspect in a different vehicle. The DGSN explained that the drug shipment was intended for an international drug trafficking operation by sea.
Police put all three suspects in custody for further investigation to arrest other possible accomplices involved in the case.
The arrest was a joint operation between Royal Gendarmerie services, the DGSN, and the General Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DGST).
Police carried out a similar operation on May 2 near the city of Taza in northern Morocco, where security services arrested two suspects possessing 1.058 tons of cannabis resin.
In 2019, Morocco’s DGSN seized a total of 179,657 tons of cannabis and its derivatives. Security services also seized large quantities of hard drugs in 2019, including 542,455 kilograms of cocaine, 7,196 kilograms of heroin, and 1,407,451 psychotropic tablets.
