More than 36,000 cannabis plants burned in Centro do Guilherme, Maranhão
Maranhão public security special forces destroyed more than 36,000 cannabis plants in two large plantations in Centro do Guilherme on 19 March 2025, the first day of an intensified drive in the Gurupi and Turi regions. The authorities estimated the destroyed plants could have produced three tonnes of cannabis, and the reports name no arrests.
🇧🇷 Centro do Guilherme, Maranhão · Brazil
Plants destroyed
36,000
Agencies
Polícia Militar do Maranhão (PM-MA), Centro Tático Aéreo (CTA) +1
Special units of the Maranhão public security forces destroyed more than 36,000
cannabis plants in the municipality of Centro do Guilherme, about 400 km from
the state capital São Luís, on Wednesday 19 March 2025.[1]The teams located
and destroyed two large cannabis plantations in the municipality and burned the
seedlings on the spot.[2]Jovem Pan São Luís reported that the two
plantations’ seedlings were incinerated after the cultivation areas were
identified.[3]
The Maranhão Military Police said the 19 March action was the first day of an
intensified drive against crime in municipalities of the Gurupi and Turi
regions, which have illegal cannabis cultivation.[1]The destroyed plants were
estimated by the authorities to be enough to produce three tonnes of cannabis.[1]On Thursday 20 March the teams were working in the neighbouring
municipality of Centro Novo, a second stage of the same drive.[2]The Maranhão
public security secretariat said further incursions would follow in the coming
days to identify and break up criminal schemes.[2]
Lieutenant-colonel Onildo, commander of Special Missions of the Maranhão
Military Police, said the eradication and incineration of the plants stopped the
drugs reaching the streets and struck a blow against drug trafficking.[1]Besides the Air Tactical Centre (CTA), a military police aviation unit, the
action involved the Maranhão Military Police’s special operations battalion
(Bope), its riot battalion (BPChoque), the Rotam mobile tactical patrol unit and
the canine unit.[1]The deployment falls under Operation Renoe (Rede Nacional
de Operações Ostensivas Especializadas), an initiative of the National Public
Security Secretariat (Senasp) of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security.[1]
Photos and video
Photo published by G1 with the report on the two cannabis plantations destroyed in Centro do Guilherme. Photo: Divulgação/Polícia Militar do MaranhãoPhoto details
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Source: G1Second Military Police handout photo published by G1 with the report on the eradication in Centro do Guilherme. Photo: Divulgação/Polícia Militar do MaranhãoPhoto details
The plant total is given only as more than 36,000; no exact count was published.
The three tonnes are the authorities' estimate of what the destroyed plants could have produced, not a measured weight of cannabis, so no weight is recorded as seized or destroyed.
No area of the destroyed plantations, drug value or number of growers was published.
No arrests were reported for this action; the accounts do not say whether anyone was found at the plantations.
The exact locations of the two plantations within Centro do Guilherme were not published, so the coordinates are those of the municipality centre.
The reported distance of about 400 km from São Luís differs from figures published for Centro do Guilherme elsewhere; it is given as the article states it.
The submitted G1 article, the secretariat statement and Jovem Pan report largely reproduce the same official account, so they are not fully independent.
The article says operations would continue in the coming days, including in Centro Novo on 20 March; that second day is not covered by these sources and is not part of this report.
The two G1 photos are Military Police handouts captioned only with the story headline, and the secretariat page labels its images only with WhatsApp file names; no caption states which plantation or scene each shows.
A JMTV television item on Globoplay is titled after this destruction in Centro do Guilherme but shows no details on its page, so it is not cited as evidence here.
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.
