Federal police arrested an Argentine man at a house on Calle Italia in María Teresa, Santa Fe, and seized cannabis buds, seeds and plants there.[1] The man, an adult Argentine, was in charge of the property where the raid took place.[1] The raid in María Teresa, a small town 40 km from Venado Tuerto, was ordered by the Federal Court of Venado Tuerto, then headed by judge Aurelio Cuello Murúa.[1] The operation was called El Jardinero.[1] The raid was carried out by the federal police’s Venado Tuerto operational unit.[1]

Federal police said the raid was part of a national security ministry drive against drug possession and trafficking.[1] The force said officers had built the case through long investigation by its Rosario federal investigations department before asking a court for the search.[1] The security ministry valued the cannabis found at 750,000 pesos; Sur24 reported that figure as a market valuation and tipped it as the headline of its coverage.[2] Sur24 said the search took place on the morning of Saturday 10 February 2024 and put the house on Calle Italia at number 700.[2]

Officers also seized two precision scales, a mobile phone and a Volkswagen Gol Country car.[1] The ministry statement also listed US dollars and Argentine pesos among the items taken, but gave no amount for either.[1] Sur24 reported that the raid was the first deployment of federal forces in the town after its communal president, Gonzalo Goyechea, filed repeated complaints naming people he said sold drugs there.[2] Sur24 said Goyechea had publicly criticised what he called the federal courts’ inaction and had filed five complaints since mid-2023.[2]