National Police officers seized a marijuana plantation in the community of El Pedernal, El Porvenir, in northern Francisco Morazán.[1] In the same operation they detained five people, including the owner of the land, one of his sons, two others for illegal possession of firearms and one held for investigation.[1] Officers found 3,520 bushes more than three metres tall on about one and a half manzanas at El Higuerito, south of the village, pulled them up and took them to the police station in Talanga.[1] Ten preventive-police patrols and a truck from the Cobras special-operations command were not enough to carry the load.[1] Police carried out the operation the previous morning to destroy the crops and arrest those involved.[2]
Subcommissioner Santos Danilo López, the police chief in Talanga, said the operation was carried out that morning with special National Police units and Public Ministry personnel.[1] He said two houses in El Pedernal were searched.[1] At the drinks business of 73-year-old Reynaldo Sixto Velásquez Velásquez, described as the landowner, officers seized 8,000 lempiras, a gambling table, a box of aluminium foil, about four ounces of suspected cocaine, one large marijuana plant and six mobile phones.[1] At the house of his 28-year-old son, Gersan Esaú Velásquez Artega, officers seized a pistol and 100 rounds, and both men were detained.[1] Police also held 84-year-old Andrés Velásquez Turcios, 26-year-old Isbar Osiel Arteaga and 36-year-old Marlon René Centeno Colindres.[1] Police said the detainees were placed at the disposal of the prosecutor’s office for illegal possession of a firearm and for cultivation, possession and trafficking of drugs.[1]
Teams from the TIGRES command, the Cobras, the preventive police and the National Criminal Investigation Directorate found the plantation growing in the middle of a maize field.[1] Police said several armed men guarding the plants from a shelter fled during an exchange of gunfire.[1] Officers found a motorised irrigation system used to water the crop.[1] Reynaldo Sixto Velásquez said he had rented the land for 5,000 lempiras to two men, one of whom he named as José Benancio, who told him they would grow maize.[1] A police source said investigators were still seeking the alleged owners of the plantation.[1] A police spokesman said two firearms, 113.4 grams of suspected cocaine, six mobile phones and about 8,000 lempiras were seized from the detainees, and that the plants would be destroyed within hours.[3]
