Tor Sihite
More actions
| Tor Sihite | |
|---|---|
| Perbukitan Tor Sihite, Pegunungan Tor Sihite, Bukit Tor Sihite | |
| ActiveCannabis last recorded here in 2026 | |
| |
| Satellite view of Tor Sihite, Sentinel-2 cloudless mosaic by EOX, 2016. | |
| Hierarchy | |
| Growing Region | Northern Sumatra |
| Geography | |
| Country | Indonesia |
| Province/State | North Sumatra |
| Regency | Mandailing Natal |
| Coordinates | 0.7096, 99.7616 |
| Landscape | |
| Elevation | 950–1,145 m |
| Terrain | Steep forested hill country, largely protected forest, reached on foot |
| Growing history | |
| Dated news reports | 2020–2026 |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Tor Sihite is a landrace cannabis growing area in the interior hill country of Mandailing Natal regency, North Sumatra, Indonesia, within the Northern Sumatra growing region. It lies on the boundary of Tambangan and Panyabungan Timur districts, in the Bukit Barisan uplands of southern North Sumatra near the border with West Sumatra. Indonesian reporting names it perbukitan, pegunungan or bukit Tor Sihite, the Tor Sihite hills or mountains.
Cannabis has been found and destroyed in the complex repeatedly between 2018 and 2026, at elevations reported between about 950 and 1,145 metres.[1][2] In November 2023 Polda Sumut reported about 150 hectares across 18 points here, a find the news agency Antara described as the largest cannabis field police had located anywhere in Indonesia.[3][4]
Geography
Tor Sihite is a forested ridge complex in the interior of Mandailing Natal, the southernmost regency of North Sumatra. Its cultivation sites sit astride the district boundary: Desa Rao-Rao Dolok and Desa Rao-Rao Panjaringan lie on the Tambangan side, while Desa Banjar Lancar, Desa Suroboyan, Desa Pardomuan with its hamlet Huta Tua and Desa Rantonatas lie in Panyabungan Timur.[5][3][6] Reports name smaller features within the complex, among them the Gunung Tujuh site above Desa Banjar Lancar and the sector called Sumur Holbung above Desa Pardomuan.[5][7]
Reported field elevations run from about 950 metres to about 1,145 metres.[2][1] The two plots destroyed in 2018 lay about 160 metres apart on the Panyabungan Timur side of the complex at 0°42.551′ N, 99°45.730′ E and 0°42.605′ N, 99°45.665′ E, at 1,136 and 1,145 metres.[1] The site of one 2020 operation lay inside protected forest at 1,017 metres on slopes of roughly 70 to 80 degrees.[8]
Times given for the approach range from an hour and a half by road followed by more than three hours of climbing in 2020, through five hours from Desa Tambangan Tonga in July 2025, to six to ten hours in November 2023 and about eight hours in May 2026.[8][2][3][9] A 2018 destruction of two plots took a joint party of about 92 personnel eight and a half hours on foot for the round trip.[1]
Cultivation
Plant heights are consistently reported at one to two metres, ranging from 30 to 150 centimetres at the 2020 protected-forest site and from 30 centimetres to two metres in the 2023 sweep.[8][3][10][9] Ages at destruction cluster at three to five months, with one 2023 field put at two to six months.[2][4][7] In several finds the plants were close to harvest.[2][6]
The 2018 BNN release converted its measured stand to six plants per square metre and gave a wet weight of 122.5 tonnes for roughly 3.5 hectares.[1] Other reports give plant counts and areas that work out far lower: 25,000 plants over six hectares in 2020, 8,000 over eight hectares in the same year, 30,000 over three hectares in July 2025 and about 3,000 over three hectares in May 2026.[8][5][2][9]
Enforcement
On 30 August 2018 the BNN narcotics directorate led a joint operation with BNNP Sumut, BNN Mandailing Natal, Polres Mandailing Natal and Kodim 0212/Tapanuli Selatan. About 3.5 hectares were destroyed at two plots above Dusun Banjar Julu, Desa Banjar Lancar, in Panyabungan Timur. Both plots had first been detected by satellite imagery.[1]
Two operations followed in 2020. On 10 June BNNP Sumut with Polres Mandailing Natal and Kodim 0212/Tapanuli Selatan announced about eight hectares and roughly 8,000 plants across three site groups, four hectares at Gunung Tujuh and two at Tor Sihite near Desa Banjar Lancar together with two hectares at Desa Suroboyan.[5] On 1 October a force of 122 personnel from BNN, Polri and the TNI, led by the BNN narcotics director, destroyed six hectares and about 25,000 plants at three sites at Desa Rao-Rao Panjaringan in Tambangan. BNN said the operation followed an investigation into suspected planting in the Tor Sihite hills and asked the Mandailing Natal authorities to bring the cleared ground into an alternative development programme.[8]
November 2023 brought the complex's biggest reported find and a second operation three weeks later. On 11 November a joint Polda Sumut and Polres Mandailing Natal team located about 150 hectares at 18 points after processing satellite imagery and verifying the results by drone, ten points at Desa Rao-Rao Dolok in Tambangan and eight at Desa Pardomuan and Huta Tua in Panyabungan Timur. The case developed from the arrest of three couriers from Padang carrying 15 kilograms of cannabis; police said the fields were directed by an inmate of a Padang prison and arrested a landowner from Desa Huta Bangun. Accounts of destruction progress differ: Antara reported nine of the 18 points cleared by 12 November, while Beritasatu reported ten hectares cleared and 15 points outstanding as of the same day.[3][4] On 30 November Polres Mandailing Natal destroyed a further five hectares of about 15,000 plants at Sumur Holbung, Desa Pardomuan, after arresting the field's owner nine days earlier.[7]
Operations continued in 2024, 2025 and 2026.[6][2][9] In May 2024 Polres Mandailing Natal found 1.5 hectares at two locations at Desa Rantonatas, part of it already harvested, following a community report.[6] In July 2025 BNNP Sumut with Brimob burned about two hectares on the Panyabungan Timur side.[11] Six days later a patrol led by the commander of Kodim 0212/Tapanuli Selatan destroyed about three hectares and some 30,000 plants above Desa Rao-Rao Dolok, keeping 320 plants as evidence.[2] In November 2025 a Brimob battalion of 30 personnel burned about ten hectares in the hills.[10] In May 2026 Polres Mandailing Natal found about three hectares of roughly 3,000 plants at Desa Rao-Rao Dolok.[9]
Satellite imagery was the detection method in 2018 and again in 2023, alongside ground patrol and community reports. The people reported arrested were field owners, couriers, a controller and a dealer; in the 2023 case police placed the direction of the network outside the regency, in a prison at Padang.[1][3][4][7]
Two cases of 2026 concerned loads said to have come from Mandailing Natal. In April 2026 Polda Sumut seized about 151 kilograms on the Siantar to Parapat road from a driver who told police the load came from Mandailing Natal.[12] In July 2026 the Medan district court sentenced a courier to 20 years for carrying 56.13 kilograms from the regency to Medan.[13] Neither report ties its load to a named field.
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Conservation status
Recent news
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "BNN musnahkan ladang ganja di Pengunungan Tor Sihite - Sumatera Utara". BNN (in Bahasa Indonesia). Badan Narkotika Nasional. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 "Ada 3 Hektare Ladang Ganja di Ketinggian 950 MDPL Perbukitan Tor Sihite". detikSumbagsel (in Bahasa Indonesia). 30 July 2025. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "Perburuan ratusan hektare ladang ganja di Madina gunakan teknologi citra satelit". Antara News Sumatera Utara (in Bahasa Indonesia). Antara. 13 November 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Ladang Ganja Seluas 150 Hektare Ditemukan di Mandailing Natal". Beritasatu (in Bahasa Indonesia). 12 November 2023. Retrieved 15 September 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "BNN Sumut Musnahkan 8 Hektare Ladang Ganja di Mandailing Natal". Liputan6 (in Bahasa Indonesia). 11 June 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "Polres Madina Temukan Lagi Ladang Ganja di Tor Sihite". StartNews (in Bahasa Indonesia). 15 May 2024. Retrieved 15 September 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 "Polisi kembali musnahkan lima hektar ladang ganja di Madina". Antara News Sumatera Utara (in Bahasa Indonesia). Antara. 1 December 2023. Retrieved 15 September 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 "Petugas Gabungan Musnahkan 6 Hektar Lahan Ganja di Mandailing Natal". BNN (in Bahasa Indonesia). Badan Narkotika Nasional. 2 October 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 "Polisi Temukan 3 Hektare Ladang Ganja di Madina". detikSumut (in Bahasa Indonesia). 31 May 2026. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Brimob Sumut musnahkan 10 hektare ladang ganja di Mandailing Natal". Antara News (in Bahasa Indonesia). Antara. 13 November 2025. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- ↑ "Bersama Brimob, BNNP Sumut Musnahkan Ladang Ganja Dua Hektare di Madina". Tribratanews Polda Sumut (in Bahasa Indonesia). July 2025. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- ↑ "Polda Sumut Berhasil Gagalkan Peredaran 72 Kg Sabu dan 151 Kg Ganja". Swara Hati Rakyat (in Bahasa Indonesia). 29 April 2026. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- ↑ "Hakim PN Medan vonis kurir 56,13 kilogram ganja 20 tahun penjara". Antara News (in Bahasa Indonesia). Antara. 29 July 2026. Retrieved 8 August 2026.