Coastguards recovered drugs from the sea, but the suspects fled the scene on a speed boat.
Rabat – Morocco’s Royal Navy coast guard units aborted two drug trafficking attempts on Saturday in M’diq, along the Mediterranean coast, and Asilah, on the northwestern Atlantic coast.
State media quoted a military source who said that the coast guard vessels chased two speed boats carrying the drugs.
The suspects, according to the source, threw the drug cargo into the sea before fleeing on the speed boats.
Morocco’s Royal Navy recovered 31 bags containing cannabis, with a total estimated weight of one tonne.
The navy handed over the drug cargo to the Royal Gendarmerie.
The Royal Navy is among the security services that contribute to Morocco’s approach against drug trafficking and irregular migration.
Throughout 2020, Morocco’s security services carried out dozens of operations against drug trafficking.
One of the operations was on Friday, when police aborted an international drug trafficking attempt in Mohammedia, near Casablanca.
During the operation, police seized four tonnes and 967 kilograms of cannabis from a car.
Police arrested the driver, who is now in custody for further investigation to determine the circumstances of the case and to arrest potential accomplices.
Anti-drug trafficking operations by Morocco’s General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) and the General Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DGST) enabled police to seize 179,657 tonnes of cannabis and its derivatives last year.
The number represents an increase of 127 tonnes compared to 2018.
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.
The seized psychotropics include 974,983 ecstasy tablets imported from Europe, according to official data from the DGSN’s 2019 annual report.
