20,000 cannabis plants burned at Sítio Seriema; Ouricuri councillor among two held
Military police uprooted and burned about 20,000 cannabis plants on 26 April 2017 at Sítio Seriema in rural Santa Filomena, Pernambuco, and found 6 kg of ready cannabis and 15.2 kg of seeds. Two people were detained, including Gildejânio Coelho Melo, an Ouricuri councillor who said he owned the land; he was questioned at the police station in Ouricuri and released.
🇧🇷 Sítio Seriema, zona rural de Santa Filomena, Sertão de Pernambuco · Brazil
Military police uprooted and burned a cannabis plantation of about 20,000 plants
at Sítio Seriema, in the rural zone of Santa Filomena in Pernambuco’s Sertão, on
Wednesday 26 April 2017.[1]Two people were detained in the operation, one of
them Gildejânio Coelho Melo, a councillor in the neighbouring municipality of
Ouricuri who owned the land.[1]
The operation began on Tuesday 25 April, when police received information about
the plantation, and the crop was set alight on Wednesday morning, with material
kept aside for forensic examination.[2]The blog Fredson Paiva, citing the
Pernambuco Military Police, reported that the crop was burned at around 5pm, by
members of GATI, the Military Police’s mobile tactical support group, working
with agents of NIS-4 under Major Rutênio.[3]Officers detained a 33-year-old
farm worker who lived on the site and admitted taking part in the cultivation.[4]The councillor arrived at the property around 11pm without knowing about
the police operation and was detained; the Military Police said he confirmed he
was the owner of the land.[2]
Besides the plantation, police seized6 kg of cannabis ready for consumption and
15.2 kg of cannabis seeds, and found electrical wiring used in the operation.[4]The councillor said another man had left with a load of the finished drug
in a pickup truck on 17 April but did not say where it was taken.[1]
The two men and the seized material were taken to the Civil Police station in
Ouricuri; the councillor was questioned and released shortly afterwards.[1]Police were investigating the involvement of a third person, Folha de Pernambuco
reported.[4]
Photos and video
Cannabis eradication in Santa Filomena, published with the G1 report and captioned 'Erradicação de maconha em Santa Filomena'. Photo: Divulgação/Polícia MilitarPhoto details
The plant count is given only as approximate (cerca de 20 mil pés), and the area of the plantation was not published.
Araripina em Foco reports that police teams including GATI, Malhas da Lei, ROCAM and a Santa Filomena garrison took part, under Major Rutênio, while the blog account names GATI and agents of NIS-4.
Police are reported to have found 20,000 plants, 6 kg of ready cannabis and 15.2 kg of seeds, so the seized cannabis weight is recorded as the 6 kg of ready drug and the seeds are kept as a separate product.
The councillor is reported as 37 in the blog account and 38 in Araripina em Foco and Folha de Pernambuco.
Araripina em Foco and the Fredson Paiva blog credit the councillor with naming a third man who collected about 120 kg of cannabis in a pickup on 24 April, while G1 gives the date as 17 April and says he did not say where the drug went.
No weight given in the G1 and Folha de Pernambuco accounts for the load taken from the site before the raid, and no charges or court outcome from this stage were reported.
All four accounts reproduce the same Pernambuco Military Police statement, so they are not independent reporting.
Bahia military police eradicated a marijuana planting of about 19,000 plants in caatinga near Quipa in rural Juazeiro on 9 November 2026. Officers of the 74th CIPM/Rural destroyed the crop and sent samples to Juazeiro's drugs and narcotics station.
Bahia's Military Police, with the 25th Independent Military Police Company and the Bahia Civil Police, found and burned about 3,000 cannabis plants on a roughly one-hectare plantation in the Olho D'água district of rural Remanso. Officers seized about 17 kg of cannabis ready for use, seeds, scales, a pump, an air rifle, a phone and three motorcycles, and made no arrests.
Arrested 0Plants destroyed 3,000Area 1 haCannabis 17 kg
Maranhão Civil Police destroyed about 45,000 cannabis plants in three rural plantations in Turiaçu on 5 November 2026, calling it the largest eradication in the municipality's history. No arrests were reported as investigations continue to identify those behind the crops.
Brazil's Federal Police uprooted about 20,000 cannabis plants and arrested three people on 4 November 2026 on four plots in the rural zone of Paes Landim, southern Piauí. The force estimated the destroyed crop could have produced about four tonnes of cannabis.
