Cannabis seized in various parts of Sudan

Sudan’s General Office for Combating Drugs in Khartoum reported the seizure of more than 16,000 cannabis cobs in various parts of Sudan.

The director of the Administration, Maj Gen Tarig El Badrawi, announced in a press statement in Khartoum on Thursday that his department launched a major campaign against drug smugglers and traders in the country this month.

In particular South Darfur, West Kordofan, White Nile state, Sennar, and the Northern State were targeted.

The anti-drugs teams arrested three men in Songo in South Darfur’s El Radoom who had 15,762 cannabis cobs in their possession. In the countryside of Jallaba, Tendelti locality in White Nile state, 450 cannabis cobs were seized, in West Kordofan 429 cobs, and in Sennar 100 cobs.

According to the General Office for Combating Drugs, Sudan is the largest producer of cannabis in Africa. The trade of bango, as cannabis is called in the country, exceeded $7 billion between 2015 and 2016, while its use grew by 34 per cent.

Most of the lucrative cash crop is grown in El Radoom locality in South Darfur, an area of 34,000 square kilometres, roughly the size of Portugal. In 2017, the Ministry of Interior deployed two paramilitary battalions and a cargo plane in an attempt to destroy cannabis farms in the locality.

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