São Tomé police arrest three in a park with cannabis and amphetamines

Judicial police arrested three men in São Tomé’s Parque Popular on 29 July 2025 with about 30 grams of liamba, or cannabis, and three doses of amphetamines. Two were São Toméan and one Portuguese. All were suspected of trafficking, and judicial authorities imposed bail, according to a police announcement reported by RSTP.^[1]

Cannabis and amphetamines were found together

RSTP’s report, published on 5 August, placed both substances in the same operation. It described the men as having been caught in the act and then brought before the judicial authorities. Bail was the reported measure governing them while the case proceeded.^[1]

The report connected this park operation with the police’s earlier campaign against cannabis cultivation and sales. It recalled Operation 971, conducted in July 2024 across several parts of the country.^[1]

The previous campaign reached fields and sales points

That earlier operation targeted cannabis fields and sales locations associated with an alleged organised network. Police reported nine arrests: seven men and two women, all São Toméan. Those detained were brought for an initial judicial hearing.^[1]

The prison and social reintegration service and the unit protecting state leaders assisted the judicial police. The account described destroyed cultivation sites, dismantled sales points and seizures alongside the arrests.^[1]

Personal possession and trafficking carried different penalties

São Tomé and Príncipe’s 2012 Penal Code separated personal-use conduct from trafficking. A small personal quantity could bring up to three months in prison or a fine, with possible exemption for an occasional consumer. Possession, acquisition or cultivation above a three-day personal quantity carried a higher ceiling.^[2]

Supplying cannabis to another person fell under trafficking, ordinarily carrying two to twelve years. Courts could apply a one-to-five-year range to substantially less serious cases. The code also allowed expulsion of a convicted foreign national for up to ten years.^[2]

Enforcement reached both shipments and local activity

An earlier port seizure in November 2017 involved more than a kilogram of cannabis on a ship linking Lagos and São Tomé. Police then detained a Nigerian crew member and an alleged São Toméan accomplice.^[3]

The 2024 field raids and the 2025 park arrests show police targeting cultivation and alleged local sales as well. The country profile sets out the code’s criminal penalties and the alternatives available for personal-use offences.^[1][2]