cannabis seizures in 2025 placed Morocco fifth worldwide, with authorities intercepting 37.8 tonnes, according to the World Customs Organization (WCO) Illicit Trade Report. The WCO compiled enforcement data from 170 customs administrations covering 163,850 cases and recorded 548.8 tonnes of cannabis seized across 67,757 drug-related cases submitted by 146 administrations.
The United States led the ranking with 99.8 tonnes seized, followed by France (66.0 tonnes), Namibia (60.6 tonnes) and Spain (52.4 tonnes). Together those five countries accounted for about 58% of all cannabis confiscated globally in 2025. Belgium ranked sixth with just under 37 tonnes, followed by Germany, Brazil, South Africa and Turkey in the next positions.
The WCO highlighted Morocco’s figures as evidence of the country’s role as a source of cannabis resin. Seizures of cannabis resin rose 58.3% year-on-year to 144.1 tonnes, representing 26.3% of the total cannabis weight seized in 2025. Herbal cannabis remained the largest category by weight, but it declined 12.6% from the prior year to 366.8 tonnes. Cannabis plant seizures doubled to 24.4 tonnes, and liquid or oil-based cannabis products increased 82.2% to 13.5 tonnes.
Key 2025 figures from the WCO report: – Total cannabis seized (all forms): 548.8 tonnes – Herbal cannabis: 366.8 tonnes (-12.6% vs. 2024) – Cannabis resin: 144.1 tonnes (+58.3% vs. 2024) – Cannabis plants: 24.4 tonnes (2x 2024) – Liquid/oil cannabis products: 13.5 tonnes (+82.2% vs. 2024)
The report also tracked cash-smuggling incidents detected at borders. Morocco fell into the WCO category for countries that recorded between 51 and 500 detected cash-smuggling cases in 2025, grouping it with Russia, Spain, Canada and Mexico. The WCO reported that the U.S. dollar was the currency most frequently involved in seized cash worldwide, followed by the euro.
The data show concentrated enforcement outcomes: five countries accounted for a majority share of cannabis weight seized, and resin seizures increased sharply even as herbal cannabis declined. That shift altered the composition of total seizures—resin accounted for more than one-quarter of seized weight in 2025, up from a smaller share the previous year.
The WCO dataset covers cases reported by customs administrations rather than all law-enforcement agencies, so the totals reflect cross-border customs enforcement activity in particular. The report’s figures provide a year-on-year comparison across forms of cannabis and across many jurisdictions, allowing clear measurement of changes in volumes intercepted at international borders.
For Morocco, the reported 37.8 tonnes of seized cannabis in 2025 reinforce its position in the resin supply chain identified by customs agencies. The range of detected cash-smuggling incidents (51–500) places Morocco among several large-source or large-transit countries where authorities also flagged cross-border movement of currency linked to illicit trade.
The WCO Illicit Trade Report delivers granular, quantitative measures: weights by drug form, percent changes versus 2024, counts of cases reported and the number of customs administrations contributing data. Those metrics show where enforcement activity concentrated in 2025 and how the mix of intercepted cannabis changed compared with the previous year.
The report’s findings may inform policy and operational decisions by customs agencies and partner law-enforcement bodies that monitor cross-border trafficking and finance flows. The WCO did not provide a breakdown of Morocco’s seizures by resin versus herbal weight in the public summary, but it singled out the kingdom as a persistent source for resin intercepted by customs authorities.
Overall, the WCO recorded 163,850 enforcement cases submitted by 170 administrations in 2025, of which 67,757 were drug-related. These drug-related submissions produced the 548.8 tonnes total for cannabis and illustrate the scale of customs action against illicit drug movement and associated cash flows during the year.
