63 nurseries holding 14.5 tonnes of marijuana burned near Llallagua
Bolivia's FELCN found and incinerated 63 marijuana nurseries holding an estimated 14.5 tonnes in the Lagunillas highlands near Llallagua, Potosí, in what the government minister called a historic first planned entry into the area.
🇧🇴 Lagunillas highlands, near Llallagua, Potosí · Bolivia
Bolivia’s anti-drug force FELCN found 63 marijuana nurseries in the Lagunillas highlands, 25
kilometres from Llallagua, Potosí, and incinerated an estimated 14.5 tonnes of marijuana, as
announced by government minister Roberto Ríos.[1][2]
Each nursery measured 20 by 40 metres, about 800 square metres; twenty were being harvested and
43 were still active, with FELCN and the Prosecutor’s Office estimating an average plant weight of
700 grams.[1][2]Ríos called the raid historic, saying it was the first time the force had entered
the area with a planned strategy and without casualties, and put the blow to the traffickers at
about 2.17 million dollars.[1][2]He said possible links between the growers and drug-trafficking
networks connected to the Cochabamba tropics are under investigation.[1][2]
The nurseries stood in arid mountain terrain, where the growers had rigged irrigation and heating
systems to hold the right temperature and humidity.[1][2]No one was present when FELCN moved in,
so nobody was arrested; operations in the area were to continue in the following days.[1][2]
Photos and video
One of the marijuana nurseries found in LagunillasPhoto details
Bolivia's anti-drug force FELCN found dried marijuana and standing cannabis plants at La Angostura, in El Torno, Santa Cruz, and burned more than 90 tonnes. The published accounts name no arrests and give no separate date for the operation.
Prosecutors and FELCN burned 36 irrigated greenhouses of cannabis near Laguna Lagunillas, in Machacamarca, Potosí, on the night of 11 March. The Oruro prosecutor put the plants at about 12,600 kilograms.
On 3 March 2026 Bolivia's FELCN eradicated about 25 tonnes of raw marijuana on 3.75 hectares at Mojón K'asa near Toro Toro, burned an artisan processing lab with washing machines and tanks, and found no one to arrest after traffickers fled.
Bolivian anti-drug forces destroyed 20 marijuana nurseries in Lagunillas, in Rafael Bustillos province, northern Potosí, in an operation before dawn on 19 January 2026. The deputy ministry for controlled substances valued the crop destroyed at 10.7 million dollars and reported that local residents set off dynamite during the burning.
