375 cannabis plants seized in Moorea gendarmerie air operation
Gendarmes on the French Polynesian island of Moorea seized 375 cannabis plants, or about eight kilograms of herb, in a helicopter-supported operation on 20 March 2025. One person was identified and implicated; the operation followed a ferry-terminal seizure of 13 cannabis pots from two passengers arriving from Moorea.
Gendarmes carried out an anti-drug operation on the island of Moorea on 20 March
2025, led by the Windward Islands Company of the gendarmerie.[1]A Dauphin
helicopter of the 34F flotilla flew over the island and identified a suspect
zone, with two gendarmes of the Moorea brigade aboard and a team of three
gendarmes on the ground.[1]
The operation seized 375 cannabis plants, representing eight kilograms of herb.[1]One person was identified and implicated according to the gendarmerie’s
Facebook page.[1]
The operation followed the seizure of 13 pots of cannabis at Tahiti’s ferry
terminal from two passengers arriving from Moorea.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
1
Plants destroyed
375
Cannabis
8 kg
Agency
National Gendarmerie (Compagnie des îles du Vent)
Agency type
Gendarmerie
Cannabis
Living plants (375 plants); Herbal cannabis (8 kg)
The article says 375 plants and eight kilograms of herb were seized but does not explain whether the weight is dried herb taken from the plants or the plants themselves; the figures record 375 plants and 8 kilograms of cannabis separately as stated.
Only one person was identified and implicated; the article does not say whether they were arrested, charged or released.
The weight is given as approximately eight kilograms, not an exact measured figure.
No count of growing sites, area cleared or value estimate was published.
The article links to continuing Matai Rorofai campaigns, but does not state whether this 20 March Moorea operation belonged to that programme.
The operation's result comes from the gendarmerie's Facebook page, which could not be opened; the article's account is the only opened source.
Gendarmes and Faa'a municipal police raided a home in Faa'a and arrested one person, who the Papeete court sentenced to 18 months of firm imprisonment. Officers seized 302 cannabis plants and 382 grams of cannabis herb, alongside methamphetamine and cash held in the same operation.
Arrested 1Charged 1Plants destroyed 302Cannabis 382 g
A two-week operation across the territory ended with 7,419 cannabis plants destroyed, 17.2 kg of herb, 31.57 g of ice and 80 ecstasy tablets seized, and 15.7 million XFP in assets. Police implicated 395 people and held 45 in custody. It was an enforcement operation, not a change in the law.
Gendarmes found 4,629 cannabis plants growing on about 3,000 sq m of forest at Papara in western Tahiti on 27 October 2017 and destroyed them. They estimated the resale value at more than 800,000 euros; no arrests were reported.
Gendarmes found and seized cannabis plants in Papara on Tahiti and on Taha'a on 9 September 2013, counting 2,388 in all. Three men in Papara were questioned and summoned to court, while no owner had yet been identified for the two Taha'a plantations, whose 1,800 plants were burned.
