Togo seizes 1.5 tonnes of cannabis hidden in a bus

Togolese security officials presented more than 1.5 tonnes of seized cannabis and three arrested suspects to the press in Lomé on 16 September 2020. The cannabis had been found on a passenger bus arriving from Ghana, hidden among second-hand clothes. Authorities said the load was being taken to Benin through Togo.

A bus search uncovered the load

Officers intercepted the bus on the Segbé–Adidogomé road during the night of 14–15 September. According to the national press agency, a search of a suspicious package revealed cannabis concealed among used clothing.

The bus was taken to the security ministry for a fuller search. Officials counted 1,784 blocks weighing 1,541.60 kg. The three suspects were described as Beninese, Ghanaian and Togolese.

The operation involved the central office responsible for combating drug trafficking and money laundering, under the security ministry. Its account placed the seizure within work against cross-border criminal networks.

Officials described clothing shipments as a concealment method

Security officials said traffickers used passenger vehicles and high-capacity trucks to move drugs hidden in clothing bales. The accompanying trade in second-hand clothes helped the load appear to be ordinary merchandise.

They appealed to the public to cooperate with security services and help identify trafficking networks. The report’s focus was on the movement of a large consignment across several countries.

The code imposed much higher penalties on supply

Togo’s 2015 criminal-code rewrite had increased the general high-risk drug import, export and supply range to twenty–thirty years. Those offences carried a fine of 50 million–100 million CFA francs, with prison and a fine together or either penalty alone.

The code separately covered small amounts held, bought or grown for personal consumption, with one–three years, a fine, or both. Supplying another person for their own consumption had a five–ten-year range and a possible fine-only penalty. These distinctions shaped the legal consequences of how cannabis was held or moved.

Later figures showed cannabis dominating seizures

In January 2026, authorities reported destroying more than 5,291 kg of cannabis seized in 2024. A June report put total drug seizures in 2025 above fifty tonnes, mainly cannabis.

The bus case gives the Togo timeline a concrete example of the transit traffic behind those later figures: a shipment moving from Ghana toward Benin, intercepted while passing through Togo.^[1][2][3][4]