10,180 cannabis plants on ten hectares destroyed in Bolikhamxay
Police and military officers in Bolikhamxay Province destroyed 17 illegal cannabis farms holding about 10,180 plants on nearly ten hectares in Oudomxay Village, Viengthong District, on 23 November 2021. Officers arrested a man believed to own one of the farms, weeks after a smaller bust in the same village.
🇱🇦 Oudomxay Village, Viengthong District, Bolikhamxay Province · Laos
Police and military officers in Bolikhamxay Province destroyed 17 illegal
cannabis farms in a joint operation in Oudomxay Village, Viengthong
District, on Tuesday 23 November 2021.[1]The farms held about 10,180
cannabis plants grown over nearly ten hectares of land.[1]
Officers arrested a man believed to own one of the farms and burned an
estimated 54 tonnes of cannabis plants on site.[1]The bust followed the
destruction of a 4.2-hectare, 4,447-plant farm in the same village earlier
that month.[1]
Photos and video
Officers and onlookers watch cannabis plants burn in Viengthong District. Photo: Laotian TimesPhoto details
The report states an estimated 54 tonnes of cannabis plants was destroyed but records no cannabis weight, since the figure is the agency's wet-plant estimate for the standing crop.
The report rounds the area to nearly ten hectares in the text and 9.9 hectares in the headline; this report follows the headline.
No charges or court outcome for the arrested man were reported.
The whole account rests on the Laotian Times report of the KPL release; no second outlet account was found.
Bolikhamxay authorities destroyed more than 3,000 kg of dried cannabis on 14 October 2026, alongside 6.3 million methamphetamine pills and more than two tonnes of kratom leaves. Vientiane's National Anti-Drug Day burn on 10 October included 8.578 kg of dried cannabis in a 3,894 kg total. The figures are post-conviction destructions, not annual seizures.
Three Malaysians aged 25 to 29 were arrested at Wattay International Airport in Vientiane with 86 kg of cannabis in 103 packages, concealed in suitcases and bound for Germany. The case was one of the few cannabis-specific airport seizures reported in 2025.
Lao media reported on 26 March 2024 that a couple had been arrested in Bolikhamxay with more than 800 kg of cannabis and nearly 300 amphetamine pills. The same report described 1,000 kg of crystal meth seized in Xayaboury and 166 kg in Bokeo. It gave no charge, court date or sentence for the cannabis case.
Police and military officers in Bolikhamxay Province destroyed eight illegal cannabis plantations holding 4,447 plants across 4.2 hectares in Oudomxay Village, Viengthong District, on 2 November 2021. Officers arrested a man believed to own one of the plantations.
