Cameroon’s customs authorities have seized nearly 2.5 metric tons of narcotics at Douala International Airport, Finance Minister Louis Paul Motazé said in a statement dated Feb. 20, 2026.
The haul included 1,057 kg of cocaine from Germany and 1,434 kg of tramadol shipped from India and South Sudan, he said.
Customs agents carried out the operation based on targeted intelligence. The six shipments, transported by a European airline and an African airline, had been falsely declared as medical supplies to evade border controls.
The drugs are estimated to be worth about $90 million, or nearly 50 billion CFA francs. Motazé said the seizure would prevent roughly 27 million tramadol tablets from entering the domestic market, highlighting the public health and social risks linked to drug abuse.
The shipments were immediately sealed and handed over to the relevant authorities for further investigation. Customs officials described the case as a record seizure at Douala airport, surpassing the interception of 200 kg of cocaine in July 2025, then valued at 9 billion CFA francs.
The operation forms part of a years-long effort to curb trafficking through the country’s airports. Since 2016, seizures have increased at Douala and Yaoundé-Nsimalen airports, partly due to the rollout of airport anti-trafficking units, known by their French acronym CAAT, tasked with tackling transnational smuggling.
Frédéric Nonos
