6,300 cannabis plants destroyed at illegal hoop-house farm in Estancia
On 25 September 2026 New Mexico's Regulation and Licensing Department Enforcement Bureau and the Organized Crime Commission raided 102 Howell Road in Estancia, Torrance County, seizing and destroying about 6,300 mature cannabis plants in 21 greenhouses weighing an estimated 21,000 pounds. The case remains open for prosecution.
🇺🇸 102 Howell Road, Estancia, Torrance County, New Mexico · New Mexico, United States
·
Plants destroyed
6,300
On Thursday 25 September 2026 the Regulation and Licensing Department’s Enforcement
Bureau and the New Mexico Organized Crime Commission executed a search warrant at a
large illegal cannabis farm at 102 Howell Road in Estancia, Torrance County.[1]
After a two-month investigation, agents entered the property without incident and found
21 hoop greenhouses, each holding an estimated 300 fully mature plants—about 6,300 plants
weighing roughly 21,000 pounds in total—which they seized and destroyed.[1]A New Mexico
State Police hazmat technician helped check for hazardous materials, and the site also held
industrial generators, pumps and storage tanks.[1]
Enforcement Bureau chief Vince Mares said the raid should warn people planning unlicensed
farms in New Mexico, and Organized Crime Commission chairman Sam Bregman said the case
remains open as prosecutors review charges.[1]No suspects are named in the release.[1]
State photographs show mature plants inside a greenhouse and the row of hoop houses at
Howell Road on the search day.[1]
Governor Newsom announced on 29 October 2026 that the Unified Cannabis Enforcement Task Force seized or destroyed 55,308 pounds of illicit cannabis and 108,226 plants across nine counties in July–September 2026, making 14 arrests.
Arrested 14Plants destroyed 108,226Cannabis 25.0873 t
California's Unified Cannabis Enforcement Task Force seized or destroyed 55,308 pounds of illicit cannabis and eradicated 108,226 plants between July and September 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom's office said. The quarter's operations across nine counties led to 14 arrests, nine firearms and $29,215 in cash, and brought the state's nine-month total to more than $230 million in cannabis.
Arrested 14Plants destroyed 108,226Cannabis 25.087 t
Humboldt County sheriff's deputies eradicated about 3,102 cannabis plants and destroyed about 36 pounds of processed cannabis at two unlicensed grows near Alderpoint and Garberville on 5 and 6 October 2026. No arrests were made and the cases were sent to the District Attorney for review.
On 16 September 2026 U.S. Forest Service officers, Glenn County’s Major Crimes Task Force and a Forest Service helicopter team eradicated about 700 cannabis plants from an illegal grow in remote Mendocino National Forest. No arrests were reported.
