200,000 cannabis plants destroyed in Bahia's Chapada Diamantina
Bahia Civil Police eradicated about 200,000 cannabis plants on roughly four hectares between Barra do Mendes and Brotas de Macaúbas on 12 May 2026, in the third phase of Operation Raízes Ocultas. Suspects fled into the woodland and nobody was arrested; a police delegate estimated the loss to organised crime at R$45 million.
🇧🇷 rural area between Barra do Mendes and Brotas de Macaúbas, Chapada Diamantina, Bahia · Brazil
Plants destroyed
200,000
Area
4 ha
Agencies
5ª Delegacia de Tóxicos e Entorpecentes (5ª DTE/Irecê), 14ª Coordenadoria Regional de Polícia do Interior (Coorpin/Irecê)
Civil Police teams eradicated about 200,000 cannabis plants on Tuesday 12 May
2026 in a rural area between Barra do Mendes and Brotas de Macaúbas, in Bahia’s
Chapada Diamantina region.[1]Suspected growers at the site fled into the
surrounding woodland as the officers approached, and nobody had been arrested
when the accounts were published.[1]
The plantation covered about four hectares of rural land.[1]The eradication
was the third phase of Operação Raízes Ocultas, an operation the Civil Police of
Bahia runs against drug trafficking in the region.[1]It was carried out by
teams from the 5th Narcotics and Psychotropic Drugs Police Station in Irecê and
the 14th Regional Interior Police Coordinating Office, also based in Irecê.[1]
Diego Raphael Nogueira Rodrigues da Costa, head of the Irecê narcotics station,
put the loss to organised crime at an estimated R$45 million.[1]Police said
investigations were continuing to identify and locate those responsible for the
crop.[1]
The operation took place on Tuesday morning, according to Sertão Hoje, which
also reported that the teams came from the Irecê drug unit and the 14th regional
coordinating office, through its Chapada technical and tactical support group.[2]
Sudoeste Total likewise reported about 200,000 plants destroyed on about four
hectares.[3]
Photos and video
The cannabis plantation between Barra do Mendes and Brotas de Macaúbas, in a Civil Police of Bahia press-office photo published by g1. Photo: Ascom-PCBAPhoto details
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Source: g1The eradicated plantation between Barra do Mendes and Brotas de Macaúbas in a Civil Police photo published by Sertão Hoje. Photo: Ascom/PCBAPhoto details
The plant count and the four-hectare area are approximate figures given by the police, not measured totals.
No figure for the weight of cannabis destroyed was published.
The precise spot between the two municipalities was not published, so the map uses the centre of Brotas de Macaúbas and the precision is recorded as district.
No suspects were named, arrested or charged; police said investigations continued.
The three opened accounts reproduce the same Civil Police of Bahia release, so they are not independent reporting.
The g1 page also carries an unrelated video about a truck driver's death on the BR-324, which is not part of this event.
G1 and the Bahia Public Security Secretariat releases are not opened here; only the three outlets listed were read.
Bahia military police eradicated a marijuana planting of about 19,000 plants in caatinga near Quipa in rural Juazeiro on 9 November 2026. Officers of the 74th CIPM/Rural destroyed the crop and sent samples to Juazeiro's drugs and narcotics station.
Bahia's Military Police, with the 25th Independent Military Police Company and the Bahia Civil Police, found and burned about 3,000 cannabis plants on a roughly one-hectare plantation in the Olho D'água district of rural Remanso. Officers seized about 17 kg of cannabis ready for use, seeds, scales, a pump, an air rifle, a phone and three motorcycles, and made no arrests.
Arrested 0Plants destroyed 3,000Area 1 haCannabis 17 kg
Maranhão Civil Police destroyed about 45,000 cannabis plants in three rural plantations in Turiaçu on 5 November 2026, calling it the largest eradication in the municipality's history. No arrests were reported as investigations continue to identify those behind the crops.
Brazil's Federal Police uprooted about 20,000 cannabis plants and arrested three people on 4 November 2026 on four plots in the rural zone of Paes Landim, southern Piauí. The force estimated the destroyed crop could have produced about four tonnes of cannabis.
