Huge blow to drug trafficking
2008-11-09 21:46
Tripoli - Authorities have seized three tons of hashish in the Ubari region of southern Libya, the interior ministry said on Sunday.
"A group of Libyans were caught in recent days in possession of three tons of hashish," said the ministry's anti-drugs office.
The swoop was part of a campaign "to eradicate the epidemic" of drugs, regarded in Libya as a "weapon of mass destruction", the office said in a statement.
In July, Libyan authorities seized a record haul of 50kg of heroin.
The amount was the largest ever seized in a North African country, the ministry said.
Drug trafficking carries the death penalty in Libya, a key transit route for drugs that come mainly from Egypt, Morocco and Turkey.
- AFP