Moroccan authorities seize 3,000 kgs of drugs

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Moroccan authorities have seized a car carrying about 3,000 kgs of cannabis en route to Mali in the southern city of Dakhla, media reports said Wednesday.

The drugs were seized in an operation late Tuesday when police and gendarmerie members suspected a car carrying a cargo of potatoes, Xinhua reported citing the official news agency MAP.

The driver of the car was coming from Casablanca and tried to cross the Mauritanian border towards Mali.

By inspecting the car, police discovered the cannabis and arrested 10 traffickers.

On Monday, 5,000 kgs of cannabis were seized in three trucks in Casablanca, the Moroccan economic hub.

Despite efforts by authorities in the past decade to crack down on cannabis farms, Morocco remains a big producer of these drugs.

Authorities said more than 700,000 Moroccans depend on cannabis production, which is concentrated in the northern Rif mountains in northern part of the country.