The Moroccan Royal Gendarmerie seized nearly 7.5 tonnes of drugs in the province of Chefchaouen (northern part) and arrested three traffickers, whose identities were not revealed, according to an official source in Rabat. According to the royal Gendarmerie, about six tonnes of Kif moulou in stem, 400 kg waste of kif and of 82 kg of chira (resin of cannabis) were seized when a sea r ch was conducted in two houses in the Chefchaouen. Last year, the Moroccan authorities seized 35 tonnes of haschich, whose value was estimated at 140 million euros on the European market. Cultivated since 15th century in the Rif exchange, the cannabis extended during the last 20 years to the grounds of the Atlantic coast in the North-West of Morocco. According to an official study, approximately 800,000 Morrocans live mainly off this illicit culture, but the farmers would draw from this traffic only US$ 214 million per annum, whereas the turnover generated by this production on the world wide market is US$ 12 billion.
