PANAMA CITY – Agents found a 1.5-hectare (3.7-acre) marijuana plantation on an island in the Gulf of Panama’s Perlas Archipelago, the Panamanian border patrol said.

The plantation was found during a humanitarian operation Friday near La Ensenada, a community on Rey Island, located some 150 kilometers (93 miles) off the coast.

Officials, however, did not say whether any arrests were made during the operation.

Agents found between 5,000 and 8,000 marijuana plants hidden among yucca and papaya crops.

“This is the method that these people use to grow this drug, trying to keep it out of sight until it can be cut for sale,” the border patrol said.

The anti-drug prosecutor’s office is verifying the quantity of marijuana at the site, the border patrol said.