Police and DEA destroy 250,000 cannabis plants in San Marcos
Guatemalan police, soldiers and DEA agents destroyed 250,000 marijuana plants alongside 319 million opium plants in a four-day operation in Ixchiguán and Tajumulco, San Marcos, announced 5 February 2010.
🇬🇹 Ixchiguán and Tajumulco, San Marcos · Guatemala
Guatemalan police forces, army troops and U.S. DEA agents destroyed 319 million opium plants and
250,000 marijuana plants in a four-day operation in the Ixchiguán and Tajumulco municipalities of
San Marcos department, near the Mexican border.[1][2]The EFE news agency reported the operation
on 5 February.[1]The National Civil Police described San Marcos as a “sanctuary” of opium
cultivation.[1]
A mixed operation
The two outlets put the value of the destroyed crops together at an estimated $780 million, a
combined figure for both drugs that cannot be divided between them.[1][2]This report records only
the cannabis component, the 250,000 marijuana plants, and attributes none of that shared valuation
to cannabis.[1][2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The widely repeated $780 million valuation covers the opium and cannabis destroyed together and cannot be split; it is not attributed to cannabis here.
The opened sources give no separate date for the four-day operation itself; 5 February is the date of the EFE dispatch they cite.
No arrests were reported in the opened sources.
Both opened reports cite the same 5 February EFE dispatch; no independent second account was found.
Guatemala's anti-narcotics police eradicated and burned 8,820 mature cannabis plants near Ixcoch and Ixmucané in Las Cruces, Petén, on 25 October 2026. The agency valued the plants at Q4,410,000.
Guatemala's anti-narcotics police eradicated and burned 6,915 marijuana plants ready for harvest in the mountains of Momostenango, Totonicapán, on 23 October 2026. The National Civil Police valued the crop at 3,457,500 quetzales. No arrests were reported. The ministry named the site aldea Pamaría; other accounts of the same count call it Paraje Racaná.
Anti-narcotics police destroyed 19,420 cannabis plants near Momostenango, Totonicapán, and 15,143 in Ixmucané, Las Cruces, Petén, the Interior Ministry reported after weekend operations. Prosecutors supported the searches and eradication work. The operations applied the existing cultivation prohibition, which carries five to twenty years in prison plus a fine for unauthorised growing.
Guatemala's National Civil Police and Defense Ministry eradicated 7,920 cannabis plants on a 660-square-metre plot at Cooperativa Ixmucané, Las Cruces, on 3 October 2026. The police valued the crop at Q3,960,000.
