Puerto Rico police seized the largest hydroponic marijuana greenhouse ever recorded on the island on Tuesday 28 June 2022, in the barrio Carruzo of Carolina.[1] Officers from the police Intelligence and Arrests Unit and the Carolina municipal police went to the three-storey building in sector Las Filipinas to investigate a complaint of possible human trafficking.[1] For the municipal force, an anonymous tip about human trafficking had secured the search warrant that led to the discovery.[2] They found the greenhouse inside a structure that had previously housed a treatment and rehabilitation centre for users of illicit substances, but no person was inside.[1] No arrests had been made, and Commissioner Antonio López Figueroa said the investigation would continue until those responsible were found.[1]

Officers found about 2,000 marijuana plants, each six feet tall and mature enough to be cut and processed.[1] They also found marijuana already packed in 33-gallon bags and ready for distribution.[1] Officers also seized 9 mm and .40 calibre ammunition.[1] Inter News Service reported that the municipal police seized 1,179 pounds (about 535 kg) of marijuana, 390 plants and about 319 pounds ready to be packed.[2] Police valued the confiscated drug at more than $943,800 on the market, and the whole find including equipment at more than $1 million.[2]

The building held about 30 inverter air-conditioning units and a special lighting system for hydroponic cultivation, and was powered illegally through independent transformers.[1] López Figueroa said the greenhouse output looked industrial in scale and that the equipment and facilities were very expensive.[1] Carolina mayor José Carlos Aponte said the operation with the police was a hard blow to drug trafficking and thanked residents for their collaboration.[2]