Maranhão security forces destroyed more than 10,000 cannabis plants in four plots in the Aldeia Bananal area of the Bacurizinho indigenous land, in Grajaú, on 19 April 2026, during Operation Herba Nefanda.[1] One man, from Pernambuco, was arrested in the act.[1]

The operation was carried out by the Maranhão Civil Police with support from other security forces, and four cannabis plots were eradicated.[1] The Civil Police estimated the loss to the criminal group at about 5 million reais.[1] Investigators from the Regional Police Station of Barra do Corda and the Grajaú police station found a structured cultivation site with an irrigation system and technology aimed at large-scale production, which they said indicated an organised trafficking scheme.[1]

Wooden huts covered with plastic tarpaulin, used as logistical support by the suspects, were also destroyed at the site.[1] The operation was supported by the Military Police’s 5th Battalion, the Military Fire Brigade’s 7th Independent Company, the Grajaú municipal guard and Air Tactical Centre teams based in Balsas and Presidente Dutra.[1] The raid was part of Operation Forças Integradas, a statewide drive against organised crime, and the operation’s name Herba Nefanda is Latin for “cursed herb”.[1]

The suspect was taken to the police station, where the legal procedures were carried out.[1]

Police described the cultivation as professional rather than rudimentary, with irrigation and large-scale production techniques.[2]

The man was reported to remain available to the courts after the procedural steps at the police station.[2]

The cultivation was described as not rudimentary, with an advanced irrigation system, large-scale production technology and structured logistics in the form of wooden huts covered with plastic tarpaulin.[3]