France: 445 kg of cannabis seized at the border, the Moroccan driver ends up in tears and in prison

The customs officers in Hendaye made a big catch on November 5, 2025 on the A63 motorway. A refrigerated truck arriving from Spain presented itself at the border post around 9:15 pm. The inspection of the trailer, officially empty, drew the agents’ attention to an abnormally displaced removable partition. The thorough search led to the discovery of eleven "Moroccan suitcases" containing 445 kilos of cannabis pollen.

The customs administration estimates the market value of this seizure at 4,413,000 euros. The 51-year-old Moroccan driver appeared in court in Bayonne on Monday. In tears at the bar, the defendant denied having known the nature of his cargo, claiming to have received the vehicle keys in Algeciras from a Frenchman after a bus trip from Morocco.

His version of the facts, describing a simple transportation mission to Bordeaux awaiting instructions, clashed with the technical elements of the case. The analysis of the three seized phones revealed that the truck had already been circulating in France since October 9, weakening the thesis of a single or accidental trip. The court sentenced the driver to three years in prison.