The Illicit Trade Report 2025, was released on 6 July 2026 by the World Customs Union, which monitors illegal cross-border transactions from money laundering to hard drugs and counterfeit goods.
The report says that cannabis remains the dominant commodity by volumein terms of seizures, accounting for 548.8 tonnes in 2025, a +3.5% increase compared to 2024. This single category represents 42.6% of all drug quantities seized worldwide.
The nature of international cannabis seizures has changed significantly in the past decade , given the cannabis reforms that have opened up partial access in North America and Western Europe. The main trend has been the regionalization of illicit cannabis trade as general production capacity has rocketed in Europe, the US and Canada, displacing traditional supply routes from Africa, Latin America and Asia.
US is responsible for 43% of the world’s cross border cannabis seizures
The World Customs Union reports that nearly half of all transnational cannabis busts were in Western Europe (particularly France), where the region accounted for the largest source of illicit cannabis, where 236,6 tons were seized in 2025 (43,1% of the 2025 global total)
North America was well behind with 99 tons of seizures representing (18,2% of global quantities)
East and Southern Africa were classified as a single region, accounting for 79% of cross-border seizures, making up 14.5% of the global total.
The Top 5 countries where illicit cannabis was seized, accounting for 58% of the global total.
1. United States: 99,8 tons
2. France: 66 tons
3. Namibia: 60,6 tons
4. Spain: 52,4 tons
5. Morocco: 37,8 tons
South Africa ranked ninth with 17,3 tons of cannabis seized at international transit points.
‘The stats don’t reflect the true picture’
A security analyst, who wishes to remain anonymous, tells Cannabiz Africa that the Nambian inclusion is misleading.
“Namibia is not growing cannabis for the international black market. The seizures reported are most likely cannabis entering Namibia from South Africa either directly or via Botswana. It would suggest that the Namibian customs authorities are far more vigilant than their South African counterparts” says the source.
“Don’t be fooled either by the figures for South Africa. Border seizures of 17 tons may sound like a lot, but compared to what’s really going on, it’s insignificant. For instance, SAPS in Limpopo confiscated over 17 tons in of illegal dagga in two weeks alone over the Easter period this year.”
He says there is probably more cannabis being grown in South Africa than ever before because of the perception that it is legal. Government keeps saying its illegal, but nobody seems to be listening”.
“The big change in the illegal dagga business is that it has switched from export to the local market. Back in the late 1990’s South Africa was ranked something like the fourth biggest producer of illegal cannabis in the world. What’s changed since then is that the plant has legalized itself, so to speak. There are now millions of South Africans buying cannabis on a daily basis from thousands of shops across the country. It’s no wonder there are fewer cross-border seizures because the local market is driving demand.”
The source says the notable absence in the stats was eSwatini. “It’s funny, how eSwatini doesn’t feature at all. Their customs officials aren’t too worried because all the dagga is outbound and there is serious protection for ‘royal growers’ one could say. If you look at reports from SAPS, SARS and the SANDF, they’ll show how much cannabis is coming over the border.
“eSwatini is a major supplier not only to the South African illegal consumer market, but to the region as a whole. There are tons and tons being shipped out of eSwatini – into KZN and Mpumulanga and then into the rest of the country – but also further afield. I’d say most of the Limpopo busts are Swazi dagga on its way to Zimbabwe or Botswana. The scale is unbelievable”.
Herbal cannabis makes up 79% of seizures
Although the report is not an accurate reflection of which countries are the biggest producers of illicit cannabis, it does provide an interesting insight into the dynamics around weed and borders.
This is an excerpt from the report, which says herbal cannabis dominates the segment.
Herbal: 79.3% of all seizures in 2025 (29,371 seizures) against 78.8% in 2024
Resin: 13.3% (4,917 seizures, +86.1% year-on-year),
Liquid/oil products for 6.3% (2,348 seizures, +22.9%)
Plants for 1.1% (422 seizures, +45.0%).
The combined growth of resin and oil categories indicates that cannabis seizures are increasingly diversifying beyond the dominant herbal product, with resin growing faster than herbal in 2025, a signal worth monitoring as it may reflect a partial revival of the historical Moroccan resin trafficking corridors alongside the dominant US herbal flows.
Quantity figures reveal a different composition of cannabis trafficking from that of seizures.
Herbal remains the leading sub commodity by volume in 2025 with 366.8 tonnes, but its quantity declined by -12.8% compared to 2024, despite a sharp rise in seizure count. Resin moved in the opposite direction, rising to 144.1 tonnes (+58.3%), and now accounts for 26.3% of all cannabis quantities seized.
Plants doubled in volume (+122.4%) to reach 24.4 tonnes, and Liquid/ oil products grew by +82.2% to 13.5 tonnes.
Resin on the rise
The structural signal of 2025 is therefore a divergence within the cannabis category: a numerical surge in herbal seizures combined with a relative redistribution of quantities towards resin and more processed forms (oils, edibles, concentrates), suggesting a partial revival of the historical resin trafficking corridors alongside the diversification of cannabis derivatives in postal flows. Morocco’s 37.8 tonnes position it as a significant resin source,.
On the case side, the transatlantic axis remains the dominant trafficking corridor.
The United States is the largest single departure country with 16,278 cases recorded in 2025, far ahead of Thailand (2,081), Spain (2,015), the Czech Republic (1,421), Canada (1,331) and Germany (1,163).
On the destination side, the United Kingdom leads with 5,163 cases, followed by Denmark (4,223), France (3,034), Germany (2,424), the Netherlands (1,901) and Spain (1,803).
This corridor reflects the export of US legal market cannabis derivatives, including edibles, oils and vape cartridges, towards European markets where they enter through e-commerce and postal channels.
Airport interceptions represent at 42.5% of cases, followed by mail centre seizures at 29.1% and inland operations at 12.8%.
The primary method of concealment is «In mail» at 49.9%, followed by «In baggage» (11.1%) and «In express courier» (7.0%).
Conveyance modes confirm the postal and air dominance: regular mail accounts for 36.8% of conveyances, express courier 25.1% and air 17.0%.
Detection is overwhelmingly driven by risk profiling at 80.5% of cases, confirming that cannabis enforcement has reached a high level of operational maturity, with intelligence-based targeting now the primary detection mechanism.
Direction is heavily oriented towards import (49.6%), with export (26.1%) and transit (19.5%) reflecting the multidirectional nature of cannabis flows.
E-commerce represents 62.6% of all cannabis cases, the second highest share among drug categories after NPS, confirming the shift towards online retail platforms as the primary channel for cannabis entering Europe.
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