Indonesia eradication campaigns (2026)
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Indonesia eradication campaigns (2026) covers cannabis eradication reporting from Indonesia during 2026. The year has seen approximately 26 hectares of cultivation destroyed across Sumatra and a first reported cultivation case from Highland Papua, with most of the documented hectarage concentrated in two large operations: the Polda Sumatera Selatan and Polres Empat Lawang takedown of the Batu Jungul cultivation network in Empat Lawang, South Sumatra (20 hectares destroyed in April 2026 after a smaller February operation on the same site),[1] and the Polda Aceh discovery of approximately 20 hectares at Lampanah in Aceh Besar (3 hectares destroyed on 29 April 2026 under Operasi Antik Seulawah 2026).[2] Indonesia operates one of the world's strictest drug prohibition regimes. Cannabis is regulated under Law 35/2009 on Narcotics; cultivation under Article 111 carries 4 to 12 years imprisonment with fines up to 8 billion rupiah. Reporting in 2026 concentrates in the Bukit Barisan upland cultivation zone running the length of Sumatra,citation needed with major regional centres in Aceh (Polda Aceh's Operasi Antik Seulawah 2026), South Sumatra (the Polda Sumsel investigation centred on the Empat Lawang Batu Jungul network) and North Sumatra (regency-level operations in Karo and Serdang Bedagai alongside continued reporting on Mandailing Natal as a trafficking-flow origin). A first 2026 cultivation case from outside Sumatra was reported in April 2026 from Pegunungan Bintang, Highland Papua, by the Damai Cartenz Operation Task Force.[3] Hard-power eradication dominates Indonesian reporting in 2026, with complementary soft-power initiatives present but secondary.citation needed
Background
The 2026 Indonesian cannabis eradication framework inherits an operational architecture assembled across the preceding decade. Three elements shape how 2026 reporting reads: the institutional division of labour between the Badan Narkotika Nasional (BNN) and the Indonesian National Police (Polri), the maturation of unmanned aerial surveillance for cultivation-site identification, and a set of named regional programmes that frame 2026 operations.
Institutional framework. Cannabis eradication in Indonesia is conducted by two principal agencies. BNN runs national-level campaigns through its Deputi Bidang Pemberantasan (Eradication Deputy) and provincial offices (BNNP). Polri operates through a tiered structure from the national criminal investigation directorate (Bareskrim, with the Direktorat Tindak Pidana Narkoba as the lead narcotics unit), through provincial commands (Polda) and regency commands (Polres), to subdistrict posts (Polsek). The paramilitary Brimob is deployed for sustained tactical work in difficult terrain, particularly in Mandailing Natal under Polda Sumut. Joint operations with the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI), the Bhayangkari police family welfare association, regional government, the prosecutor's office, customs, and forestry and agricultural services are routine; the breadth of participation is partly procedural under Article 92 of Law 35/2009, which prescribes the formal destruction process, and partly intended to broadcast government cohesion.citation needed
Aerial surveillance. Since 2023, BNN has run a partnership with the Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional (BRIN) and the Badan Informasi Geospasial (BIG) using unmanned aerial vehicles (Pesawat Terbang Tanpa Awak, PTTA) to identify cannabis cultivation sites. The partnership underlay a sequence of BNN-led operations at Desa Pulo, Seulimum, in Aceh Besar (1 hectare destroyed in October 2023; further operations in early 2025 and again in September 2025) and at related Aceh Besar sites including Maheng in Kuta Cot Glie (early 2025, 2 hectares).[4][5][6] The Polda Aceh 2026 operations build on the same surveillance capability, now operated jointly with BNN.citation needed
Operational continuity from 2025. Several 2026 operations are direct continuations of 2025 enforcement work. The Bareskrim Polri operation in Gayo Lues, Aceh in November 2025 documented 51.75 hectares of cultivation across 26 plots inside Gunung Leuser National Park, spanning the kecamatan of Blangkejeren, Putri Betung and Pining;[7] Brimob Battalion C Pelopor of Polda Sumut destroyed approximately 10 hectares at Tor Sihite in Mandailing Natal on 12 November 2025.[8] Both feed the geographic priorities of 2026 reporting.
Named programmes. The 2026 reporting frame includes several named programmes, most associated with provincial-level Polda commands:
- Operasi Antik Seulawah 2026 (Polda Aceh): Polda Aceh's standing 2026 cannabis eradication operation, named for the Seulawah volcano in Aceh Besar. Underlies the Lampanah operation of 29 April 2026.[2]
- Empat Lawang Batu Jungul investigation (Polda Sumatera Selatan, Direktorat Reserse Narkoba): a single-network investigation begun February 2026, which closed with the 24 April 2026 destruction of 20 hectares at Desa Batu Jungul and the arrest of network kingpin "PD alias Pinhar" at a Palembang bus terminal.[1] Operationally continuous with the 13 February 2026 raid on the same site.citation needed
- Operasi Damai Cartenz 2026 (Polri and TNI joint task force, Papua): a counterinsurgency operation oriented primarily to operations against the TPNPB but with subsidiary narcotics enforcement responsibilities. Discovered cannabis at Yunabol and Siminbuk villages in Pegunungan Bintang in April 2026.[3]
- Grand Design Alternative Development (GDAD) (BNN): a soft-power complement to BNN eradication, running pilot livelihood-transition programmes in Aceh Besar, Aceh Utara, Bireuen and Gayo Lues, focused on agricultural skills training to support transitions to coffee, vegetables and other commercial crops.[4]
Map
Regional summaries
Sumatra — Aceh
Aceh is the most consistently reported cannabis cultivation region in Indonesia. 2026 reporting confirms its continued status, with three documented enforcement events: the late-April Lampanah eradication, a mid-February trafficking interdiction in Bireuen, and the broader operational frame of Polda Aceh's Operasi Antik Seulawah 2026.
The 29 April 2026 Lampanah operation, in kecamatan Seulimum of Aceh Besar, destroyed three hectares of cultivation under Polda Aceh's standing 2026 operational frame. Polda Aceh director Inspektur Jenderal Marzuki Ali Basyah reported a wider 20-hectare discovery across multiple sites in the area, with an estimated harvest yield of 50 tons; the destruction at Lampanah covered 3 of those 20 hectares. The remaining 17 hectares were either harvested already or held for later destruction; the publicly available record does not clarify which.citation needed[2] The destruction was framed by Marzuki as part of a long-term cultural shift initiative, with locally recruited petani muda milenial ("young millennial farmers") visibly involved in the burning as community-facing agents of change.[9] The site sits within the broader Seulimum cluster that has produced repeated BNN finds since 2021.citation needed
A separate Polda Aceh trafficking interdiction on 15 February 2026 stopped a Toyota Avanza in Kuta Blang, Bireuen regency, recovering approximately 50 kilograms of cannabis. The driver, a 58-year-old farmer from Central Aceh identified as AW, said the consignment originated in Beutong Ateuh in Nagan Raya regency on the western Aceh coast and was bound for a contact in Geudong in Aceh Utara. The receiving contact escaped before police arrived. Marzuki cited the operation as part of his standing direction to clear cannabis trafficking from the province.[10] The interdiction documents Beutong Ateuh as a 2026 source point, distinct from but contemporaneous with the Aceh Besar cultivation cluster targeted by Operasi Antik Seulawah.citation needed
The Aceh Besar Lampanah area is geographically and operationally continuous with the Aceh Utara cultivation cluster targeted by BNN/Polri/TNI in January 2024 (Sawang district, 2 hectares, 22,000 plants), the Aceh Selatan cluster targeted by BNN in October 2022 (Trumon Tengah, Kampong Teungoh, 3 hectares), and the recurring BNN target zone of Desa Pulo, Seulimum.citation needed
Sumatra — North Sumatra
North Sumatra reporting in 2026 includes two small-scale cultivation operations and surfaces Mandailing Natal as a continuing trafficking-flow origin point. The bulk of large-scale Sumut cultivation reporting in the relevant time window comes from the November 2025 Brimob Tor Sihite operation, which is referenced in the Background section above.
A 6 January 2026 Polres Serdang Bedagai operation in Dusun II of Desa Kerapuh, kecamatan Dolok Masihul, destroyed two cannabis plants of around two metres in height growing at the back of a residence, with three men in custody. The site is a coastal lowland location, geographically distinct from the upland cultivation zones documented elsewhere in Sumut.[11] An 8 April 2026 Polres Karo operation in Desa Kutarayat, kecamatan Naman Teran, on the slopes of Mount Sinabung, recovered 75 plants of varied size (35–150 cm) hidden among stacked timber inside a protected forest, with four men in custody.[12] Both operations are an order of magnitude smaller than the November 2025 Tor Sihite Brimob operation in Mandailing Natal and considerably smaller than the South Sumatra Empat Lawang operations of the same year.
Mandailing Natal continues to surface as a trafficking-flow origin in 2026 reporting. A 26 April 2026 Polda Sumut press conference reported the seizure of 151 kilograms of cannabis from a driver on the Siantar-to-Parapat highway, with the driver naming Mandailing Natal as the source and admitting the trip was his third such consignment.[13] A separate 30 April 2026 Polres Tapanuli Selatan operation in kecamatan Angkola Muara Tais arrested two couriers transporting 3 kg of cannabis by motorcycle taxi from kecamatan Panyabungan (in Mandailing Natal regency).[14] The two trafficking interdictions, alongside the November 2025 cultivation finds at Tor Sihite, establish Mandailing Natal as a sustained source for cannabis flows north towards Medan across the late-2025 and early-2026 reporting period.citation needed
Sumatra — South Sumatra
South Sumatra reporting in 2026 is dominated by a single sustained investigation: the Polda Sumsel and Polres Empat Lawang takedown of the Batu Jungul cultivation network in Empat Lawang regency. The investigation closed in late April with the destruction of 20 hectares of cultivation, the seizure of 220 kilograms of dried packaged cannabis, and the arrest of the network's principal organiser at a Palembang bus terminal. The investigation accounts for almost the entirety of 2026 South Sumatra reporting and the bulk of 2026 Sumatran hectarage destroyed.
The first enforcement contact came on 13 February 2026, when Polres Empat Lawang acted on a community tip-off and destroyed three hectares of cannabis at Desa Batu Jungul in kecamatan Muara Pinang, seizing approximately 200 kilograms of harvest-ready material in eight sacks. The standing crop was burned in place. The operation drew armed resistance from approximately 50 community members; two field guards detained at the site (RD, 22, male and A, 18, female) were forcibly released after armed locals burned the holding hut.[15] Officers later arrested Feriyadi (43) on 20 February at Tanjung Makmur in kecamatan Tebing Tinggi as the alleged organiser of the resistance, identified as a relative of the released field guards.[16] The community-resistance pattern documented at Batu Jungul stands in contrast to the absence of comparable resistance reporting in Aceh, where Polda Aceh frames eradication as community-supported via the petani muda milenial initiative.citation needed
Investigation continued through February and into April 2026, with the lead Polda Sumsel team mapping a multi-island distribution network. On 24 April 2026 a joint Polda Sumsel and Polres Empat Lawang operation returned to Batu Jungul and destroyed 20 hectares of cultivation across the broader site. Officers seized 220 kilograms of dried, packaged cannabis in 11 sacks, plus four motorcycles, land ownership documents and field maps. The network kingpin, identified by initials PD alias Pinhar, was arrested at a bus terminal on Jalan Gubernur H. Bastari in Palembang prior to the field operation. Polda Sumsel narcotics director Kombes Pol Yulian Perdana said the network had operated since 2024, distributing cannabis from Empat Lawang to Palembang and on to Java; four further suspects remain on the wanted list.[1][17]
The combined February and April operations against the same network produced 23 hectares of cultivation destroyed, 420 kilograms of processed material seized and at least one major arrest, with the community-resistance dimension of the February operation generating its own follow-up enforcement track. The Empat Lawang Batu Jungul investigation is the single largest documented Indonesian eradication action of 2026 by hectarage destroyed.citation needed
Highland Papua — Pegunungan Bintang
A two-day patrol on 10 to 11 April 2026 by 29 personnel of the Damai Cartenz Operation Task Force, the Pegunungan Bintang Sub-regional Police and the 751/VJS Infantry Battalion located cannabis in two locations in Pegunungan Bintang regency, Highland Papua: 81 plants at Yunabol village in Oksibil district and 145 plants at Siminbuk village in Serambakon district, totalling 226 plants. Two men in custody as witnesses returned negative urine tests and have not been named as suspects.[3] The operation is the first reported cannabis cultivation case from Highland Papua in the wiki record and is geographically and culturally distinct from the Sumatran cultivation context. Damai Cartenz is a counterinsurgency operation primarily oriented to operations against the TPNPB, with subsidiary narcotics enforcement responsibilities. Whether the Pegunungan Bintang find represents an isolated incident or the surfacing of a previously undocumented Papua cultivation pattern cannot be settled from current reporting.citation needed
Timeline
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Agencies
- Indonesian National Police (Polri)
- Primary agency in 2026 cultivation eradication and trafficking interdiction across all reported regions. Relevant sub-units include Bareskrim Polri's Direktorat Tindak Pidana Narkoba (which led the November 2025 Gayo Lues operation referenced in the Background section), provincial commands Polda Aceh (under Inspektur Jenderal Marzuki Ali Basyah), Polda Sumatera Selatan (Direktur Reserse Narkoba Kombes Pol Yulian Perdana) and Polda Sumut, regency commands Polres Empat Lawang (under AKBP Abdul Aziz Septiadi), Polres Karo, Polres Serdang Bedagai, Polres Tapanuli Selatan and Polres Pegunungan Bintang, the Korps Brigade Mobil (Brimob) Battalion C Pelopor of Polda Sumut (under Kompol Zaenal Muhlisin), and the subdistrict-level Polsek where cases are processed.
- Badan Narkotika Nasional (BNN)
- Co-lead agency, operating nationally and through provincial offices (BNNP). 2026 reporting documents BNN as the historical lead in Aceh Besar, with Polda Aceh increasingly operating its own surveillance-led campaigns alongside BNN. BNN runs the Grand Design Alternative Development (GDAD) soft-power programme.
- Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI)
- Routine joint participant in eradication operations, particularly in Aceh and Papua. Specific units recorded in 2026 include the 751/VJS Infantry Battalion (Pegunungan Bintang) and Kodim regional military commands.
- Damai Cartenz Operation Task Force
- Joint Polri-TNI counterinsurgency operation in Papua, with subsidiary narcotics enforcement responsibilities. Operational lead in the April 2026 Pegunungan Bintang case under Public Relations Head Senior Superintendent Yusuf Sutejo.
- Joint participants
- The full participant list at major eradication burns typically includes representatives of regional government, the Kejaksaan (prosecutor's office), Bea Cukai (customs), Dinas Kehutanan (forestry service), Dinas Pertanian (agricultural service) and the Bhayangkari police family welfare association.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Ladang Ganja 20 Hektar di Sumsel Dibongkar, 220 Kg Siap Edar Disita", Viva, 27 April 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Aceh Police Discover 20-Hectare Marijuana Plantation", Tempo, 30 April 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Joint Security Team Found Marijuana Plantation in Bintang Mountains", Indonesian National Police, 13 April 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "BNN RI Musnahkan Ladang Ganja Di Ketinggian 1.300 MDPL", BNN, October 2023.
- ↑ "Operasi Pertama Di Tahun 2025, BNN Musnahkan 12 Ton Ganja Di Aceh Besar", BNN, April 2025.
- ↑ "BNN RI Musnahkan 2 Hektare Lahan Ganja Di Aceh Besar", BNN, September 2025.
- ↑ "4 Fakta Ladang Ganja 51,75 Hektare di Aceh Dibongkar Bareskrim", detikNews, 20 November 2025.
- ↑ "Satuan Brimob Polda Sumut Musnahkan 10 Hektar Ladang Ganja di Perbukitan Mandailing Natal", Sentralberita, 13 November 2025.
- ↑ "Musnahkan Ladang Ganja Seluas 3 Hektare di Aceh Besar dalam Operasi Antik Seulawah 2026", FBI News, April 2026.
- ↑ "Petani di Aceh Ditangkap Polisi saat Bawa 4 Karung Ganja", detikSumut, 20 February 2026.
- ↑ "Tanam Pohon Ganja di Belakang Rumah, Warga Sergai Ditangkap Polisi", detikSumut, 8 January 2026.
- ↑ "Polisi Temukan Kebun Ganja di Kawasan Hutan Lindung Karo, 4 Orang Ditangkap", detikNews, 18 April 2026.
- ↑ "Polda Sumut Berhasil Gagalkan Peredaran 72 Kg Sabu dan 151 Kg Ganja", Swara Hati Rakyat, April 2026.
- ↑ "Gunakan Becak Motor untuk Kelabui Polisi, Kurir 3 Kg Ganja Ditangkap Polres Tapsel", Info Tabagsel, 2 May 2026.
- ↑ "Polisi Temukan 3 Hektare Ladang Ganja di Empat Lawang, 8 Karung Siap Edar", detikSumbagsel, 14 February 2026.
- ↑ "Provokator Halangi Polisi Gerebek Ladang Ganja di Empat Lawang Ditangkap", detikSumbagsel, 20 February 2026.
- ↑ "Polda Sumsel Musnahkan 20 Hektar Ladang Ganja di Empat Lawang", Beranda Indonesia, 26 April 2026.