Army finds 120-ton marijuana plantation in Baja California desert
Soldiers found about 120 hectares of marijuana near El Rosario, Baja California, on 12 July 2011, in what the army called the largest plantation ever detected in Mexico. About 100 workers fled and 58 people were detained as troops began burning a crop the army valued at $160 million.
🇲🇽 El Rosario desert, Ensenada, Baja California · Mexico
The soldiers who walked into what looked like a tomato field in the desert near El Rosario, Baja California, on 12 July 2011 found about 120 hectares of marijuana instead.[1]The plot covered nearly 300 acres more than 150 miles south of Tijuana, and the army presented it as the largest marijuana plantation ever detected in Mexico.[1][2]
About 100 laborers were eating dinner when the patrol of some 30 soldiers arrived, and they fled into the hills.[1]The military captured two people in the field and detained another 56 at checkpoints set up around the area.[1]Brigadier General Alfonso Duarte Mugica, who oversaw the operation, said the crop could have yielded about 120 tons of marijuana worth about $160 million, and the defense ministry attributed the plantation to Joaquin Guzman and the Sinaloa cartel.[1][2]
Some 200 soldiers began burning the plants, work the authorities said could take a month, and boxes of highly toxic fertilizer were found at the site.[1]President Felipe Calderon congratulated the defense ministry, calling the find a big blow to organized crime.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
No plant count was published; 120 tons is the army's estimated yield, not a weighed seizure.
The army's claim that this was the largest plantation ever detected in Mexico was disputed in contemporary coverage, which cited an expert pointing to the bigger 1984 El Bufalo find.
What happened to the 58 detained people after the raid was not reported.
Jalisco state police found a marijuana plot near the El Salvador delegation in Tequila and destroyed about 83,200 cannabis plants by uprooting and burning them. The FGR opened a health-crimes investigation and kept the case open, reporting no detentions.
On 25 October 2026 Jalisco state police, with Defence and National Guard support, found two marijuana plots and a drying shed at San Martín de las Cañas in Tequila, destroyed about 98,000 plants on 22,880 square metres, and valued the crop at 102.9 million pesos.
Mexican navy personnel found and destroyed about 56,000 suspected marijuana plants on five plots covering more than 6,000 square metres in La Yesca, Nayarit, during patrols on 23 and 24 October. The navy did not report any arrests.
On 20, 21 and 22 October 2026 the Mexican navy and the army destroyed about 122,400 marijuana plants on eight plots covering about 14,880 square metres near La Yesca, Nayarit. The statements report no arrests. A separate five-plot destruction in the same municipality on 23 and 24 October is a different event.
