Cabo Verde police burn 11.7 tonnes of cannabis on Santiago Island
Cabo Verde's Polícia Judiciária dismantled cannabis plantations in localities across the interior of Santiago Island on 30 October 2020 and burned 11,728 kg where it was found. About 120 officers took part with Armed Forces support, and police reported no information on detentions.
🇨🇻 various localities in the interior of Santiago Island · Cabo Verde
Cabo Verde’s Polícia Judiciária, the judicial police, dismantled several
cannabis plantations in various localities in the interior of Santiago Island on
Friday 30 October 2020.[1]The operation was run by SCITE, the Central Section
for Investigation of Drug Trafficking.[2]About 120 officers took part in the
field operation, including members of the Armed Forces supporting the judicial
police.[1]The judicial police reported no information on detentions.[3]
The judicial police reported seizing 11,728 kg of cannabis during the operation.[1]The cannabis was burned where it was found, on the order of the Public
Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministério Público.[2]The judicial police said the
operation took place as part of a plan to prevent and combat domestic drug
trafficking.[2]
The 30 October 2020 operation was the first of four phases of Operação Verde
2020, which ran on 30 October and 3, 13 and 17 November 2020.[4]Police called
the four-phase campaign the largest cannabis seizure the judicial police had
ever made.[4]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
No figure for the number of plants destroyed or the area cleared was published.
The 30 October 2020 date is the Friday named by the judicial police in its own statement; the VOA account gives only the day of the week.
Reports describe the amount as about or almost 12 tonnes and the force's statement gives the exact figure of 11,728 kg, which is recorded here.
No detentions, charges or court outcomes were reported for this operation.
No photo of this operation could be verified: the VOA image is captioned as a file photo (Canabis. Foto de arquivo) and the Expresso das Ilhas image carries no caption establishing that it shows this operation.
The later phases of Operação Verde 2020 on 3, 13 and 17 November 2020, and the campaign total of about 26 tonnes, are separate events and are left out of this report.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Polícia Judiciária de Cabo Verde: Police described the haul as several separate cannabis productions spread across diverse localities of the island's interior.
Police seized 42.3 kg of hashish in six volumes at Boca Ribeira in Praia Branca on São Nicolau island on 20 May 2026. Tests by the judicial police confirmed the material was hashish, and searches continued along the island coast with maritime, air and land resources.
The Polícia Judiciária and the Polícia Nacional dismantled three cannabis plots at Picos Acima in São Salvador do Mundo, on Santiago island, in the early hours of 4 April 2026. About 413 kg of cannabis was seized and destroyed, and a car was taken; no arrests were reported.
Cape Verde's Judicial Police detained a 33-year-old Cape Verdean man at Sal Rei port on Boa Vista on 3 February 2026, seizing 1.50 grams of haxixe. He was presented to the Boa Vista court on 4 February and left subject to scheduling of a summary trial.
Cabo Verde's Judicial Police seized 8,473.5 kg of cannabis from cultivation fields in Belém, Mosquito de Horta and Encosta de Santa Clara on 28 October and 4 November 2022. Police weighed the cannabis and then incinerated it all, with Armed Forces support in the November operation.
