The Libyan authorities have seized around 400 kg of hashish worth nearly $1 million near the eastern coastal city of Tobruk, officials reported on Sunday. Several suspects were arrested in the operation, with investigators saying the drugs were smuggled across the border from Egypt.
The shipment, valued at approximately 6 million Libyan dinars ($934,000), was discovered on Saturday at a house in an agricultural area southeast of Tobruk, according to Ahmed al-Mismari, an information and documentation officer at Libya’s anti-drugs agency. The suspects included Libyan and Egyptian nationals, although officials did not confirm the number detained.
“The preliminary investigations revealed the shipment had been smuggled across the border with Egypt and was intended for local marketing and distribution within the Libyan market,” Mismari told Reuters.
Photographs released by the agency showed large quantities of hashish packed in gold-and-black wrappers. The packages carried several markings, including a horse symbol and the year 2026.
The seizures follow another major drug interception in September, when Libyan security officers discovered approximately 100,000 ecstasy tablets smuggled from Europe. The pills, shaped like the face of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, were concealed inside a cargo van, the Deterrence Agency for Combating Terrorism and Organized Crime said.
In another operation in Tobruk on June 10, Libya’s anti-drugs agency reported seizing 86,900 tablets of Tamol and tramadol worth approximately 2.17 million Libyan dinars ($338,000) during a raid on a farm. An Egyptian national was arrested after officers also found a bottle of imported alcohol and a piece of hashish at the property.
Libya has emerged as a major North African transit hub for synthetic drugs and other narcotics targeting domestic and regional markets, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The UN agency notes that trafficking networks are actively exploiting the security vacuums and political fragmentation left in the wake of the 2011 NATO-backed overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi. Today, the nation remains divided between the Government of National Unity based in Tripoli and the eastern administration backed by military commander Khalifa Haftar.
In 2025, Libya’s eastern-based anti-drugs agency seized over 6.4 tonnes of hashish, 68.4 kg of cocaine, and nearly 1.9 million narcotic tablets worth a total of $34.3 million, according to the Libyan News Agency.