Morocco foils hashish smuggling

2008-05-08 13:01

Rabat - Moroccan police seized a twin-engine aircraft on Wednesday and arrested its American pilot as it was attempting to pick up hashish from a clandestine airstrip in northern Morocco, government officials said.

The Cesna 337 Pull-Push plane flew from Spain to the makeshift strip near Souk Larbaa village in Kenitra province, about 40km north of Rabat, to load an unspecified amount of hashish, the officials said.

Four vehicles waiting for the plane escaped with the hashish when police swooped to seize the empty plane and arrest its pilot, a US national named as Wilson James Douglas, they said.

Officials gave no further details and said the authorities were continuing to investigate the incident.

Local newspapers have been reporting over the past 15 months drugs that traffickers were using small planes to export hashish from Morocco.

The United Nations says Morocco is the world's leading supplier of cannabis resin and the main source of hashish trafficked into Europe, mainly via Spain.

- Reuters