Cocaine seizures in Tunisia increase nearly a thousandfold in a decade
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Tunisia Online
Cocaine seizures in Tunisia exceeded 101 kilograms in the first nine months of 2026, compared with 94 kilograms for all of 2025. Tunisian anti-drug official Mohamed Ali Chaïbi says the quantities seized have increased almost a thousandfold in ten years, notably via the Libyan border, according to Tunisia Online.
Tunisian customs seized more than 101 kilograms of cocaine in the first nine months of 2026, compared with 94 kilograms in all of 2025 and 33 kilograms in 2024, Tunisia Online reports, citing figures announced by the customs administration in October.
Mohamed Ali Chaïbi, head of the anti-drug service at the El Gorjani Judicial Police Directorate, said seizures had risen from about 150 grams in 2013 to more than 140 kilograms in 2023. He attributed the increase in particular to cross-border trafficking from Libya, with which Tunisia shares about 460 kilometres of border.
Libya is not the only route. A UN report describes a flow of cocaine from European ports, including Marseille and Genoa, to the Tunisian ports of La Goulette and Radès. The consignments are reportedly hidden in cars and trucks transported by sea, according to the report.
Some of the cocaine brought into Tunisia is reportedly destined for the local market, while the rest is redistributed to neighbouring countries, Tunisia Online reports. The rise in seizures in Tunisia comes amid reports from several international organisations that North Africa is being used as a transit corridor to Europe.
