Bénin’s commitment to combating organised crime took a decisive step on Thursday, 18 June 2026, in Ahozon, a locality in the commune of Ouidah. The National Agency for the Recovery of Confiscated and Seized Assets (Anracs) carried out a public incineration of several shipments of narcotics and psychotropic substances seized across the country.
Among the products reduced to ash were 95 kilogrammes of cocaine intercepted a month earlier at the Autonomous Port of Cotonou. The operation, executed at the site of the Waste Management and Sanitation Company (SGDS), took place under the strict oversight of judicial authorities, with magistrates, senior representatives from the Ministry of Justice, and detachments from the Republican Police and the Beninese Armed Forces in attendance.
Major port seizure permanently neutralised
According to Raynier Florent Gnansomon, Director General of Anracs, these illicit substances came from various operations conducted under the national policy to combat drug trafficking networks.
The most significant batch in this incineration was the 95 kilogrammes of pure cocaine. This consignment had been intercepted in mid-May 2026 at the Autonomous Port of Cotonou during a targeted surveillance operation by the Special Unit of River and Maritime Police (USPFM). Elite agents discovered five bales of drugs cleverly hidden in the strainer of a foreign-flagged container ship before handing the case over to the Central Office for the Repression of Illicit Drug Trafficking and Precursors (Ocertid) for in-depth investigation.
Cannabis and psychotropics also incinerated
In addition to the cocaine, Anracs oversaw the destruction of large stocks of cannabis and a significant quantity of psychotropic products seized during recent judicial proceedings.
The agency stressed that this systematic destruction serves a dual purpose: strictly enforcing court rulings and permanently eliminating any risk of reintroduction or leakage of these dangerous substances into local or international criminal circuits.
A high-security regulatory setup
The convoying, security of the Ahozon site, and monitoring of the combustion process were entrusted to an impressive mixed force of soldiers and police officers.
“Their destruction is one of our prerogatives,” emphasised Raynier Florent Gnansomon. He noted that Anracs is thus fulfilling its legal mission to manage and liquidate assets seized in the context of transnational crime. By being definitively removed from judicial seals and consumed by fire, these toxic substances mark the conclusion of several procedures aimed at dismantling mafia networks in Bénin.
