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List of cannabis seizures

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This is a list of cannabis seizures notable for record-setting size or social precedent.

Operation Agency Location Year Amount and form* Notes
U.S.–Colombia joint operation Guajira Peninsula, Colombia 1978 570+ tons Largest drug seizure to date by a factor of 10, worth $200 million.[1][2]
Night Train Seizure US Coast Guard Atlantic Ocean near Florida 1978 54 tons (108,000 lb)
US Coast Guard Pacific Ocean 150 miles from San Diego 1984 26,000 pounds Yacht Arrakis; largest on West Coast to date.[3]
Project Pacifico U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
and Mexican authorities		 Chihuahua, Northern Mexico 1984 10,000 tons (20,000,000 pounds) Series of raids in Mexico, some unharvested plants, some harvested and baled. Seizure included 45 trucks able to carry 30 tons of bales each.[2]
US Coast Guard Cutter Roger B Taney (WHEC-37) Atlantic Ocean 1985 160 Tons Tug and Barge [4]
Cornbread Mafia seizure Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (investigator) 10 Midwest states, based in Kentucky 1989 182 tons (364,000 pounds) valued at $350 million Over 70 individuals indicted operating 29 farms,[5][6][7] called by federal prosecutors the "largest domestic marijuana producing organization in the nation."[8]
Operation Green Sweep US Army/National Guard/Bureau of Land Management King Range National Conservation Area, Emerald Triangle, California 1990 1400 plants First time active-duty troops engaged in counterdrug activities inside US borders.[9]
Operation Conquistador DEA Caribbean (multiple) 2000 362 tonnes DEA coordinated 26 country effort;[10] largest in this table by weight.
Operation Keymer Local police Cambridge UK 2006 54 kg (119 lb)
Operation Imperial Emperor DEA California–Mexico 2007 27,229 pounds Other drugs and $45 million cash seized.[3][11]
Federal/local Houston 2007 19,000 pounds[3] Seized drugs were being transported in school buses.[12]
Norwegian cannabis raids National Criminal Investigation Service Norway 2007–2008 500 cannabis plants on a single farm, over 40 individual raids One of Norway's largest narcotics cases.[13]
Counter Narcotics Police of Afghanistan Kahdahar, Afghanistan 2008 260 tons hashish
520,000 lb†		 Said to be largest drug seizure in history at the time, worth $400 million.[14][15]
US interagency? Queens 2009 50,000 pounds BC bud, street value $150 million.[3]
Operation Save our Sierra State/Federal Fresno, California 2009 330,000 plants Estimated value $1 billion, second largest in this table.[3][16]
RCMP Montreal 2010 8 tons (16,000 pounds) hashish Found in abandoned trailer.[17]
Operation Deliverance DEA Mexico–US 2010 69 tons Bilateral[10]
Cowabungle raid? Federal police Tijuana 2010 105 tons Largest seizure in Mexico in years.[18]
Operation Kruz Control Federal interagency/local Arizona 2012–2013 27,000 pounds Year-long operation.
CBP Calexico border crossing 2013 35,000 pounds Largest seizure at US-Mexico border.[19][20]
Local police Goodrich, Texas 2014 100,000 plants Largest seizure in Texas history at the time.[21]
Operation Weed Eaters and Operation Thunderstorm National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Akure, Ondo State January–June 2014 34,030 kilograms (75,020 lb)[22] Largest single seizure by agency in Ondo State to date, valued at 364 million naira.[22]
Ondo State and elsewhere in Nigeria 45,875 kilograms (101,137 lb)[23]
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Otay Mesa port of entry, San Diego County, California 2015 27,000 pounds Second-largest seizure at US–Mexico border.[20]
Federal/local Lipscomb County, Texas 2015 109,000 plants New state record.[24][25]
Hong Kong Police Force Hong Kong 2017 180 kg (400 lb) Largest seizure in HK in a decade.[26]
DuPage County Metropolitan Enforcement Group DuPage County, Illinois (Chicago area) 2021 7,688 pounds of cannabis, 406 pounds of cannabis edibles, and 6,891 THC vaping cartridges Largest seizure in DuPage County "in memory", estimated to be worth $22 million.[27]
Operation Trojan Shield U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
Australian Federal Police
New Zealand Police
Europol		 2021 22 tons[28] Enabled by ANOM standalone encryption devices used by criminals but secretly supplied by FBI.[29][30]
Antelope Valley eradication operation Los Angeles County Sheriff
other southern California sheriffs
California Department of Fish and Wildlife
California National Guard
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration		 2021 375,000 cannabis plants and 33,480 pounds of harvested marijuana Largest seizure ever in Los Angeles County, worth over one billion dollars.[31][32]
Oregon State Police White City, Oregon 2021 500,000 pounds of harvested marijuana More than 100 people were arrested along with the seizure marijuana worth approximately $500 million.[33]
Operation Caribbe Canadian Armed Forces Caribbean 2006–2021 or later Over 6.7 tonnes of seized cannabis, 105 tonnes of cocaine as of 2021[34] Included operations by attack submarines HMCS Corner Brook in 2008 and 2011,[35] and HMCS Victoria in 2014.[36]
Federal-state-tribal interagency Navajo Reservation near Shiprock, New Mexico 2020 260,000 plants Over 1,000 greenhouses raided; probably a mix of hemp and THC-bearing cannabis, employed many non-US persons.[37][38]
Guardia Civil and Policía Foral Spain 2022 415,000 cannabis plants Worth an estimated $108 million, called largest cannabis farm in Europe with 166 acres (67 ha) under cultivation.[39]
Yamhill County Sheriff deputies and volunteers, aided by Oregon State Police, Port of Portland PDX Task Force, Newberg-Dundee Police Department, Polk County Sheriff's Office, and Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue Yamhill County, Oregon outside Newberg (Portland area) 2022 Over 38 tons of harvested marijuana Largest seizure in county history; farm unlicensed by Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission processing for illegal out-of-state sale; firearms and $80,000 in foil-wrapped cash also seized; evidence of wire transfers to Mexican state of Michoacán. Cannabis valued at $76.5 million in Oregon or $269 million on US East Coast.[40]

*Assumed dried leaf or flower material unless otherwise specified.
†May not be independently verified

References

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  1. ^ "Colombia raids net 574 tons of marijuana", The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Ontario, p. 3, May 1, 1978
  2. ^ a b Brinkley, Joel (November 23, 1984). "Vast, undreamed-of drug use feared". The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  3. ^ a b c d e "America's 5 biggest pot busts", The Week, June 17, 2010
  4. ^ "Associated Press October 1985". Associated Press.
  5. ^ "Pioneer Press: Search Results".
  6. ^ "Schenectady Gazette - Google News Archive Search".
  7. ^ "Lawrence Journal-World - Google News Archive Search".
  8. ^ "Kentucky New Era - Google News Archive Search".
  9. ^ Bishop, Katherine (August 10, 1990). "Military Takes Part in Drug Sweep And Reaps Criticism and a Lawsuit". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-10-15.
  10. ^ a b Kleiman & Hawdon 2011, p. 212.
  11. ^ Richard Marosi; Tracy Wilkinson (July 28, 2011), "Suspicion in Mexico's Sinaloa cartel", The Los Angeles Times
  12. ^ IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT AGENTS, LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES SEIZE 19,000 POUNDS OF MARIJUANA, US Fed News Service, March 5, 2007, archived from the original on 2017-04-28
  13. ^ "Femti cannabis-gartnere fengslet" [Fifty cannabis gardeners imprisoned]. Dagsavisen (in Norwegian). February 27, 2008. Archived from the original on 2009-11-06.
  14. ^ "World's biggest drug seizure in Afghanistan", Daily Telegraph, June 11, 2008
  15. ^ Afghans' 260-ton hashish bust could be record: Worth tops $400 million, NATO says, Associated Press, June 11, 2008 – via NBC News
  16. ^ Nick Valencia (July 23, 2009), $1 billion in marijuana seized in California, CNN
  17. ^ Nearly 8 tons of hashish seized in Canada, NBC News, September 15, 2010
  18. ^ "Authorities seize 105 tons of marijuana in northern Mexico". CNN.
  19. ^ "Feds seize 15 tons of marijuana in second largest weed bust ever at a U.S. Border crossing". March 3, 2015.
  20. ^ a b Andie Adams (February 27, 2015). "Record-Breaking Bust: 15 Tons of Pot Seized at Otay Mesa Port, the seizure has an estimated street value of about $18.96 million". NBC San Diego.
  21. ^ East Texas marijuana fields valued at $175 million, Associated Press, July 30, 2014 – via The Cannabist (Denver Post)
  22. ^ a b Ben Ezeamalu (March 13, 2015). "NDLEA makes "single largest" seizure of cannabis in Ondo". Premium Times. Nigeria.
  23. ^ Oluwaseun Akingboye (June 16, 2019). "Marijuana: Controversies over Ondo's new 'gold mine'". The Guardian Sunday Magazine. Nigeria.
  24. ^ "109K-plant marijuana bust could be largest of its kind in Texas history", Amarillo Globe-News, June 9, 2015
  25. ^ "109K-plant marijuana bust could be largest of its kind in Texas history", Avalanche-Journal, Lubbock, June 10, 2015
  26. ^ "Largest Hong Kong cannabis haul in 10 years nets 180kg worth HK$29 million", South China Morning Post, January 5, 2017
  27. ^ "Police seize $22 million in marijuana in warehouse in Wood Dale, arrest a man they say shot at them during a chase". Chicago Tribune.
  28. ^ Byron Tau; James Marson (June 8, 2021). "The FBI Secretly Ran the Anom Messaging Platform, Yielding Hundreds of Arrests in Global Sting". Wall Street Journal.
  29. ^ "FBI secretly ran phone encryption program used by organized crime, global sting yields 800 arrests". USA Today. June 8, 2021.
  30. ^ "FBI Targets Encrypted Platforms Used by Criminal Groups: Global Partners Announce Results of Innovative Operation Trojan Shield". Official website. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved 2021-06-08.
  31. ^ Tori B. Powell (July 7, 2021). "$1.19 billion worth of marijuana seized in massive drug bust in California". CBS News.
  32. ^ "Antelope Valley Marijuana Eradication Operation". July 7, 2021.
  33. ^ Kale Williams (July 7, 2021). "State troopers seize half a million pounds of illegal marijuana in southern Oregon". The Oregonian/OregonLive.
  34. ^ Julia Lennips (February 26, 2021). "Ships depart CFB Esquimalt for Operation Caribbe". Canadian Military Family.
  35. ^ "Navy surveillance submarine returning to Victoria waters". Victoria News. June 14, 2021.
  36. ^ "Royal Canadian Navy Submarines: Fleet Status". official website. Government of Canada. February 19, 2015. In September 2014, Victoria's crew received the Operational Service Medal for their successful participation in Operation CARIBBE, a US-led, multinational effort to interdict drug trafficking in the waters of the Caribbean Basin and the Eastern Pacific.
  37. ^ "Details emerge from federal raid on Navajo-area farms". Associated Press. November 16, 2020.
  38. ^ Ed Williams (September 24, 2020). "Chaos and cannabis: A massive hemp empire is accused of growing illegal marijuana and sowing violence on the Navajo reservation". Navajo Times.
  39. ^ Josh Salisbury (April 14, 2022). "Police raid Europe's 'biggest cannabis farm' in Spain worth £83m". Evening Standard – via Yahoo! News.
  40. ^ Gary Allen (October 19, 2022). "More than 38 tons of marijuana seized from farm near Newberg". The Newberg Graphic.

Sources

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