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[update][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
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.