430,016 cannabis plants eradicated in Las Cruces operation
Guatemalan police and soldiers eradicated 430,016 cannabis plants in Aldea Los Laureles, Las Cruces, Petén, valuing them at Q161,256,000. The same Operation Relámpago action seized rifles, grenades and other weapons and captured several suspects, including a Mexican man wanted by the United States on cocaine charges.
🇬🇹 Aldea Los Laureles, Las Cruces, Petén · Guatemala
Guatemalan security forces captured alleged members of a drug-trafficking
organization in Las Cruces, including 34-year-old Mexican national Erick Neftalí
Medina García.[1][2]Guatemalan authorities said Medina García is wanted by the
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on cocaine
conspiracy charges involving intended importation into the United States.[1]Police described his detention as the PNC’s second detention for extradition
purposes so far that month.[1]
The PNC said the intervention took place in the municipality of Las Cruces,
Petén, a border zone with Mexico and Belize, with Guatemalan police and Army
forces deployed.[1][3][2]During the same operation, authorities seized two RPG-7
grenades, six anti-tank munitions, seven rifles, a pistol, a revolver and
hundreds of live cartridges.[1][3][2]Authorities located and eradicated more than
430,000 marijuana plants, whose value was estimated at 20.9 million dollars.[1][3][2]
The four detainees were three Guatemalans aged 28, 28 and 26 and a 35-year-old Mexican national.[3][2]
Photos and video
Erick Neftalí Medina García after capture by anti-narcotics police during the strategic operation. Photo: Facebook/PNCdeGuatemalaPhoto details
Original
1200 × 675 px · WEBP · 97 KB
SHA-256
9b91cbde3028db97…
Retrieved
6 Nov 2026
Shown
the publisher's file, through an image proxy
Source: Expansión PolíticaJoint PNC and Army operation dismantling a drug-trafficking structure in Las Cruces, Petén. Photo: PNC Guatemala via InfobaePhoto details
CR Hoycrhoy.comESGuatemala captura a presunto narco mexicano y destruye plantación de marihuana
Infobaeinfobae.comESGuatemala: la captura de un mexicano, un arsenal de guerra y la incautación de más de 400 mil plantas de marihuana en Petén
Open questions the AI reported
The two opened accounts disagree on the number detained, four versus five, so no arrested figure is recorded.
No weight was published for the five bags and 11 packages of marijuana, so no kilograms can be recorded.
The quetzal valuation of Q161,256,000 and the reported estimate of 20.9 million dollars are treated as the same official valuation in different currencies; the report records the precise quetzal figure.
No separate operation time was published beyond the 31 January 2026 reports, so the report date is used as the incident date.
The reports give Aldea Los Laureles in Las Cruces but no exact field coordinates, so the map pin marks the district.
The cocaine conspiracy allegation against Medina García is context for the same operation; no cocaine quantity was stated and none is counted in cannabis figures.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Diario de Centro América: Guatemala's official account places the weapons seizure and captures in Aldea Los Laureles, Las Cruces, Petén, reporting five people captured with RPG grenades, anti-tank munitions, rifles, a pistol, a revolver, magazines, ammunition, radios, telescopic sights and bulletproof vests.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Diario de Centro América: In that incursion the PNC reported eradicating 430,016 marijuana plants valued at 161,256,000 quetzales, and also finding five bags and 11 packages of marijuana.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Diario de Centro América: Guatemalan authorities said the actions were carried out under Operation Relámpago as part of the government's frontal fight against organized crime and drug trafficking.
The same Infobae article also reports separate extortion arrests, a Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa marijuana seizure from Marta “N” and a Barrio 18 intervention in Moyuta, which belong to other events and are left out here.
AFP gives no names for the four detainees and no date beyond 'this Saturday'.
AFP gives no weight for any marijuana product seized, so no kilograms can be added.
The Grupo Animal copy reproduces the AFP text, but its article paragraphs appear only in the page markup; the quotations are taken from the same dispatch as published by CR Hoy.
Guatemala's anti-narcotics police eradicated and burned 8,820 mature cannabis plants near Ixcoch and Ixmucané in Las Cruces, Petén, on 25 October 2026. The agency valued the plants at Q4,410,000.
Guatemala's anti-narcotics police eradicated and burned 6,915 marijuana plants ready for harvest in the mountains of Momostenango, Totonicapán, on 23 October 2026. The National Civil Police valued the crop at 3,457,500 quetzales. No arrests were reported. The ministry named the site aldea Pamaría; other accounts of the same count call it Paraje Racaná.
Anti-narcotics police destroyed 19,420 cannabis plants near Momostenango, Totonicapán, and 15,143 in Ixmucané, Las Cruces, Petén, the Interior Ministry reported after weekend operations. Prosecutors supported the searches and eradication work. The operations applied the existing cultivation prohibition, which carries five to twenty years in prison plus a fine for unauthorised growing.
Guatemala's National Civil Police and Defense Ministry eradicated 7,920 cannabis plants on a 660-square-metre plot at Cooperativa Ixmucané, Las Cruces, on 3 October 2026. The police valued the crop at Q3,960,000.
