The search and investigations conducted into this case have led to the arrest of the owner of a carpentry workshop located in douar "Bni Ouassine" on the outskirts of Tangier, in flagrante delicto, with two acolytes, hiding and storing large shipments of chira in wooden boards for export from Morocco, said a statement by the National Police (DGSN).

The modus operandi of this criminal network is to hollow out the said boards to hide the drugs, while proceeding to their reassembly by coating them with chemicals to avoid detection by the police canine, added the same source.

According to initial estimates, the quantity of drugs seized in this workshop would be 2.1 tons of chira, while the operations of extraction of drugs from the wooden boards are under way.

The suspect and his two accomplices are currently subject to the procedures of the judicial investigation ordered by the prosecutor's office to clarify the ins and outs of this case and identify the national and international ramifications of this criminal network, concluded the statement.