Cameroon reports drug-dog seizures and raids on cannabis crops

Cameroon’s police reported in August 2017 that drug dogs had helped seize nearly 200 kg of cannabis and bring about ten people before the justice system since the start of the year. Their account also described raids to destroy cannabis plantations in the Northwest, Southwest and West regions, whose impact police acknowledged was mixed.

Handlers trained before deployment

Police commissioner Armand Abena presented the account to the government’s cannabis committee in Yaoundé on 23 August. He described a policy aimed at reducing both supply and demand, supported by a police narcotics subdirectorate established in 2002.

During 2016, selected officers had received training from European Union experts in detecting different drugs. The programme also involved Belgian Malinois sniffer dogs. It formed part of the gradual deployment of canine anti-drug teams along routes used by traffickers.

A team worked the northern road

One early canine unit was stationed at Kousseri, in the Far North. Police used regional maps of cannabis production, transit and consumption to guide its deployment along the national road connecting Maroua, Mora and Kousseri.

Abena attributed nearly 200 kg of cannabis seizures and about ten people brought before the justice system to the dogs during the year so far. The figures described that operational effort within his presentation on cannabis policing.

He also described joint airport teams in Yaoundé and Douala bringing together police, customs and gendarmes. Their work covered passengers, luggage, freight and postal traffic, with information sharing involving countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Plantation raids had mixed results

In the Northwest, Southwest and West, police carried out raids to destroy cannabis crops. Abena identified those regions as production areas and called destruction a leading tool for reducing supply.

He also acknowledged that its impact was mixed. His presentation offered no national total for the area destroyed or the number of growers prosecuted, but it placed crop destruction alongside roadside detection as a continuing police practice.

Police followed shipments to their organisers

Another method allowed a detected illegal consignment to continue under surveillance so investigators could identify the people behind it. Abena described operations within Cameroon and across borders, intended to trace a shipment from its origin through intermediate destinations to the final recipient.

At the same meeting, a justice ministry representative outlined a proposal for higher fines and tighter sentencing rules. Together, the presentations showed how Cameroon’s cannabis campaign combined existing police operations with efforts to strengthen punishment under the 1997 drug law.^[1][2]