Paraguay destroys 145 tonnes of marijuana in Caazapá park operation
Paraguay's Senad destroyed 53 drug camps and eradicated 111 hectares of cannabis in Caazapá National Park between 2 and 11 May 2024, seizing 145,300 kg of ready marijuana it said took about 478 tonnes off the market.
Paraguay’s National Anti-Drug Secretariat (Senad) ran Operation Frente Sur in Caazapá National Park in two incursion phases between 2 and 11 May 2024, announcing the results on 13 May.[1][2]Agents detected and destroyed 53 drug camps holding a total of 145,300 kg of ready marijuana, and eradicated111 hectares of cannabis crops.[1][2]
Senad calculated that the operation took about 478 tonnes of marijuana out of circulation, representing some $14 million in lost profit for trafficking financiers.[1][2]The agency said the operation struck criminal structures that had spent years expanding production and stockpiling drugs inside the park’s forests.[1]
The 16,000-hectare park is part of the Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest, and the national forestry institute Infona had recorded 99.5 hectares deforested there for illicit crops between 2020 and 2022.[1]No arrests were reported.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The account rests on Senad statements relayed by the two outlets; no independent count was published.
How Senad derived the 478-tonne circulation figure and the $14 million trafficker loss from the seized marijuana and eradicated fields was not detailed.
SENAD agents raided a rural property in Colonia Nueva Yaú, Capitán Bado, destroying 9 hectares of marijuana, 450 kg of chopped marijuana and five camps. Prosecutor Sarita Bonzi ordered everything incinerated on site while investigations continue to identify those responsible.
A joint task force destroyed three hectares of marijuana and 9,300 kilograms of the drug in the San Lorenzo community of San Pedro del Paraná, Itapúa, on 31 October 2026. Prosecutors are investigating a criminal organisation they say was buying weapons with trafficking proceeds.
SENAD’s Bella Vista Norte unit, using drones to map plots in the Timburi forest reserve, eradicated four hectares of illegal marijuana and destroyed 660 kg in 33 bales at a staging area; the agency estimated about twelve tonnes kept from the market under prosecutor Rossana Coronel’s supervision.
On 29 October 2026 Paraguay's SENAD reported eradicating four hectares of cannabis — about 12 tonnes — and destroying 1,600 kg of drying marijuana at the Indigenous colony Takua Ju in Yby Pytã, Canindeyú. No one was found at the site.
