Rabat – Morocco’s police aborted on Tuesday a cocaine smuggling operation in Tangier in collaboration with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Morocco’s General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) and Customs of Tangier led the field operation that resulted in the seizure of 35 kilograms of cocaine, coming from South America to Asia across Morocco.
The operation falls within the framework of cooperation between Moroccan and American security services in several domains, namely those of cross-border crimes and drug trafficking, according to a DGSN press release.
DGSN submitted the cocaine samples to the police laboratory under security services’ Forensic Sciences Institute for tests to determine its purity, added the same source.
Morocco’s police also noted that they opened an investigation into the matter to identify the accomplices involved in the case and determine its links with international cocaine trafficking networks.
Given that cocaine is not locally produced in Morocco, it mainly enters from Europe and Latin America. This leads Moroccan police and customs officers to monitor seaports in northern Morocco, as well as coastlines that provide easy access to European shores.
In 2019, Moroccan authorities seized 542,455 kilograms of cocaine.
In the same year, police also seized 7,196 kilograms of heroin, 1,407,451 psychotropic tablets, and 179,657 tonnes of cannabis.
