Police in Rivera department found a clandestine cannabis greenhouse on rural land at Arroyo Sauzal, about 10 km from the departmental capital, and seized the plants inside.[1] The raid took place on Thursday 23 April 2020, carried out by the Rivera police division specialised in complex crimes, the División Especializada en Materia de Delitos Complejos.[2] The greenhouse was found after neighbours reported strangers entering a plot of rural land in the department.[2]

Officers looking through a window saw the greenhouse inside and counted 380 cannabis plants.[2] Teledoce reported 340 cannabis plants seized from a nursery, a discrepancy with the 380 counted by the operation’s own account.[3]

Police also seized lamps, fans and air extractors, plus 57 lamps, 22 electrical ballasts, 15 lamp holders, tools, a shotgun, cartridges, a knife, a mobile phone and a television.[2] Several bags of plant substrate brought from Brazil were at the site, and police found a second structure of wooden posts that had been started on the same land.[3]

Nobody was arrested: Subrayado reported that three people at the property fled when police arrived and were being sought.[1] Teledoce reported that the owner of the plot declared voluntarily to investigators the day before publication, and that police said the person responsible for the crop was fully identified.[3] Subrayado reported that the owner of the land rented the property to third parties.[1]

The prosecutor on the case, Alejandra Domínguez, confirmed the seizure of the plants to A Plateia and said investigations would continue to locate the person responsible for the greenhouse.[2] The person responsible for the greenhouse was identified by police and requested by the Uruguayan courts, A Plateia reported.[2]