2,305 cannabis plants seized in Saint-Martin; five held
Gendarmes and customs officers in Saint-Martin dismantled a cannabis trafficking network on 15 October 2013 after an investigation that began with a customs overflight in May 2012. They arrested five people and destroyed three growing sites in the hills of Concordia and Agrément, seizing 305 more plants and growing equipment during searches of the suspects' homes.
Law enforcement in Saint-Martin carried out an operation on 15 October 2013 that
seized more than 2,000 cannabis plants and dismantled a drug trafficking
network.[1]Five people were arrested in the operation; they had been growing
cannabis on a large scale.[1]
A customs helicopter and customs officers first spotted several cannabis-growing
sites at Concordia and Agrément during an overflight of the island in May 2012.[2]The Saint-Martin gendarmerie research brigade, with air support from the
Pointe-à-Pitre gendarmerie air section, located three production sites in the
hills of Concordia and Agrément among dense vegetation that was hard to reach.[2]The sites were equipped with a generator running a water pump and a
rainwater collection system that, after chemical treatment, irrigated the
plants.[2]
A long investigation led to the discovery of large-scale cannabis production and
the dismantling of the trafficking network.[1]After months of investigation
and discreet surveillance, gendarmes identified the main grower of the largest
site and the main participants in the cannabis-selling network.[2]The largest
site alone held about 1,700 cannabis plants and, according to estimates,
represented a production of 50 kilograms since December 2012.[2]On 15 October
2013 a joint operation by the Saint-Martin research brigade, the Melun mobile
gendarmerie intervention platoon and the gendarmerie surveillance and
intervention platoon led to the destruction of the production sites.[2]Searches at the suspects’ homes produced the seizure of 305 more cannabis
plants, growing equipment including a drying cabinet with ultraviolet lamps and
ventilation, cannabis seeds and fertiliser, account books and a .22 calibre long
rifle.[2]
After the detentions, the main suspect was brought before the Republic’s
Prosecutor and placed in pre-trial detention at Basse-Terre prison pending
trial.[2]Three others were released and summoned to appear in court on 6
December 2013, and the last individual was placed under judicial supervision.[2]
Photos and video
Police photo published with the report on the record cannabis seizure in Saint-Martin: more than 2,000 plants seized on 15 October 2013 and a drug trafficking network dismantled. Photo: D.R.Photo details
The France-Antilles account is paywalled after its second paragraph, so the agencies, the three growing sites and the 305 plants seized in the home searches come from the St. Martin News Network account.
The 2,305 plants is the sum of the more than 2,000 plants found at the three growing sites and the 305 seized during the home searches; no source gives one combined figure, and France-Antilles describes the seizure only as more than 2,000 plants.
The 50-kilogram figure is an official estimate of the largest site's production since December 2012, not a weight that was seized, so it is not recorded as a cannabis seizure.
No court outcome or sentence was reported; the main suspect was still awaiting trial when the accounts were published.
The suspects' names, ages and nationalities were not published.
No area in hectares was given for the three growing sites, and no street value was published for the plants.
The sites are described as lying in the hills of Concordia and Agrément, so the coordinates given are those of the two districts rather than of the plantations themselves.
The text gives a weight ("50 kilograms") but the figures have no kg_seized; check whether it belongs there.
Marseille police seized nearly 15 kg of cannabis and 1,700 euros of cash from a base apartment in Les Chartreux, 4th arrondissement, used to supply the Campagne-Lévêque street sale, and arrested two men aged 20 and 34. It followed the dismantling of part of the Campagne-Lévêque network on 26 October 2026.
Gendarmes arrested three people, two men and a woman aged 26 to 46, and found 36 cannabis plants in a hangar in Redessan, Gard, on 26 October 2026. All three were placed in police custody and brought before the Nîmes judicial court on 29 October, facing up to 10 years in prison.
Police ran two security operations in Pointe-à-Pitre on 28 and 29 September 2026, in Mortenol and at the Péricarpin and Cipolin housing estates, and arrested two people. Officers found about fifty sachets containing cocaine and cannabis herb during the second operation.
Police arrested five people during a 21 September 2026 operation in Bergevin, Pointe-à-Pitre, seizing more than 6 kg of cannabis herb from a dwelling and common areas. Four arrests were linked to suspected drug trafficking, while one person was wanted on an arrest warrant and another faced an order to leave France.
