Military Police of Pernambuco uprooted and burned 27,920 cannabis plants at Sítio Lambedor, in the rural zone of Sertânia in the state’s sertão, on Tuesday 1 August 2023.[1] Officers went to the property after residents reported that several men were lodging there and that a truck carrying irrigation pipes had arrived.[1]

The Military Police said officers entered the caatinga and found the suspects watering the plantation, and that the men drew firearms and fired at them before fleeing into the vegetation.[1] No arrests were reported and the suspects remained at large when the accounts were published.[1] Another outlet reporting the operation said officers searched for the suspects but could not arrest them.[2]

Alongside the plants, officers destroyed 5,880 planting holes.[1] On the plot they found and seized a mobile phone, 46.7 kilograms of cannabis ready for consumption and 2 kilograms of cannabis seed for planting.[1] The seized material was delivered to the Civil Police station in Sertânia.[2]

A local account reproducing the Military Police’s own release puts the number of suspects at about six.[3] That account says the suspects fired at the officers, who returned fire.[3] It names the units involved as the Military Police’s reserved-service team, NIS-1/3ºBPM and Malhas da Lei, acting on denunciations to the 2nd Military Police Company in Sertânia.[3]