22,200 cannabis plants burned and 10 kg seized in Santa Helena, Maranhão
Maranhão security forces eradicated about 22,200 cannabis plants in four plots in the rural area of Santa Helena on 23 May 2026 and seized 10 kg of cannabis prepared for pressing. Police put the avoided market value at more than R$7 million; no arrests were reported.
🇧🇷 Zona rural de Santa Helena, Baixada Maranhense, Maranhão · Brazil
Plants destroyed
22,200
Cannabis
10 kg
Agencies
Centro Tático Aéreo (CTA-MA), 10º Batalhão da Polícia Militar de Santa Helena
Maranhão security forces eradicated a cannabis plantation of about 22,200 plants
in the rural area of Santa Helena, in the Baixada Maranhense, on Saturday 23 May
2026.[1]Officers found four areas used to grow the drug and incinerated the
whole plantation on the spot.[1]
According to the police, destroying the plants prevented about 3.5 tonnes of the
drug from reaching the illegal market.[1]
Part of the seized items was taken to the civilian police station, which will
continue the investigation.[1]The state security secretariat said the
operation was carried out by Air Tactical Centre (CTA) teams using the Águia 07
helicopter and operational vehicles, with military police from the 2nd Company,
the Special Operations Group and the intelligence sector of the 10th Military
Police Battalion of Santa Helena.[2]
The security forces estimated the destruction removed about 3.5 tonnes of the
drug from the illegal market and cost the trafficking groups more than R$7
million.[2]The action was part of Operação Brasil Contra o Crime Organizado,
in its Bioma/Amazônia axis, a national effort against drug trafficking, criminal
factions and environmental crime in the Amazon region.[1]
Photos and video
Image published by G1 with the state government's material on the eradication of 22,200 cannabis plants in Santa Helena. Photo: Divulgação/GOV-MAPhoto details
G1 dates the action to Saturday 23 May 2026, while the state secretariat's statement says 'last Saturday (24)'; the report uses 23 May, the date G1 gives.
No arrests, suspects, charges or court outcome were reported for this eradication.
The 22,200 plants, the 3.5 tonnes of avoided production and the R$7 million loss are the authorities' approximate estimates, not measured totals.
No figure for the area cleared in hectares was published, and the exact location within the rural area of Santa Helena was not named.
The operation's exact duration is not stated; the sources describe a single-day action.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Secretaria de Segurança Pública do Maranhão: The teams seized 10 kilograms of cannabis already prepared for pressing and two scales used to prepare and sell the drug.
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.
