Based on preliminary reports, the plants were not sold for export but circulated locally around East Java, reported CNN Indonesia.
“We are actively broadening our sweeps and investigations as we suspect additional fields remain undiscovered,” he added.
Local residents had not only provided critical information leading to the discovery, they also assisted officers in the ongoing search efforts, he said.
Over the weekend, local police had also discovered a location used to process the marijuana harvests, well-hidden in the forested areas of the national park that was surrounded by dense vegetation on steep terrains. At least 10 kilograms of dried marijuana was seized from the site, officials said.
Indonesia authorities have not yet confirmed if the latest seizure was the largest drug bust in recent history. Similar operations have played out in other parts of Indonesia in recent years. In 2022, officers from Indonesia’s National Narcotics Agency (BNN) dismantled a marijuana plantation in North Sumatra spanning around 5 hectares and seized 50,000 cannabis plants. Drones were used to locate the plantation.
This year in August, BNN officers destroyed 3.5 tons of marijuana which was harvested from two hectares of illegal fields in the province of Aceh.
Marijuana fields, spanning an area of around 4 hectares across three locations in Aceh, were destroyed by BNN officers earlier in March.
