Morocco: seizure of more than 20 tonnes of hashisch to France

The Moroccan police seized over 20 tonnes of cannabis resin leaving for France on Friday evening in the premises of an international shipping company in Casablanca, said Saturday an official source.

•     The drugs were concealed in metal boxes in the middle of a shipment of machinery, said the same source.
  
      The police have launched search notices of the persons involved in trafficking and investigations are continuing. The total quantity of hashish seized could exceed 24 tonnes, the source added.
  
      Last April, the Moroccan police announced an arrest record, also in Casablanca, 32.2 tonnes of cannabis resin destined for Spain.
  
      The market value of the drug was estimated at 33 million dirhams (about 3 million euros). The police did not specify the market value of the hashish seized Friday.
  
      This was one of the largest drug seizures made in the port of Casablanca in the past five years.
  
      Hashish is a resin from the kif (cannabis), cultivated since the fifteenth century in the Rif, on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco.
  
      In 2008, approximately 110.8 tonnes of hashish were seized in Morocco by the authorities, and 33.5 kilograms of cocaine, 6.2 kilograms of heroin and 43,510 units of psychotropic drugs, according to the Ministry of Interior.
      
      
  Ennaharonline/ M. O.