Moroccan police have seized 1.1 tons of cannabis resin in the country's northern port of Tangier

Moroccan police have seized 1.1 tons of cannabis resin in the country's northern port of Tangier, local MAP news agency reported on Friday. The drug was concealed in three Italian-registered cars driven by Moroccan expatriates who were going back to Europe after summer vacations, a police source was quoted as saying. The drug was contained in three separate parcels of 540 kg, 210kg and 360 kg. The arrest of the suspected smugglers also involved an Italian national who was serving as a guide for the shipment of the substance from Morocco to Italy, MAP said. Despite the government's efforts to eradicate cannabis, which flourishes on 70,000 hectares of soil in the country's northern mountainous areas, Morocco remains the world's biggest provider of the drug. The north African country has also tightened the grip over international drug dealers by installing scanners in the ports of Tangier and Casablanca, enabling the officers to seize tons of hashish and scores of traffickers. In Tangier alone, customs officers seized in 2007 no less than 35 tons of hashish, up 25 percent from 2006.