A joint operation by the Tax Agency and the Guardia Civil

• The drugs were hidden among the merchandise of a truck that was going to travel on the ferry that covers the route with the port of Rosslare (Ireland)

• The driver of the vehicle has been arrested.

• The seized drugs are believed to have been worth around 3,700,000 euros on the Irish illicit market.

June 2, 2022.- Officials of the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency in the Basque Country and agents of the Civil Guard acting as State Fiscal Guard under the functional dependency of the Regional Customs Unit and II. EE. of the Basque Country, have seized in the port of Bilbao a shipment of 575 kilos of marijuana destined for Ireland. The seized drugs, once introduced into the black market, would have reached an estimated value of 3,700,000 euros.

The operation was carried out when investigators from the Customs Surveillance Service and the Civil Guard, who were monitoring the loading of vehicles and goods on the ferry that connects the port of Bilbao with that of Rosslare (Ireland), detected a truck coming from the south of Spain that aroused their suspicions because it could be used to hide contraband substances.

As part of the actions to ensure the logistics chain of international transport and border control, a radiological inspection of the truck was immediately carried out with technical means from the Basque Tax Agency.

Once all the declared products (lettuces) had been unloaded, 500 vacuum-packed plastic bags were found hidden inside the boxes containing the lettuce. During this operation, marijuana buds were seized with a total weight of approximately 575 kilos.

After opening all the packages and analyzing the substances found, it was determined that the hidden merchandise was a variety of high-quality marijuana, with a high value in black markets.

"Modus operandi"

The "modus operandi" in this operation adds to a long list of systems used by smuggling organizations to try to evade customs controls. In this case, on the one hand, camouflaging legal merchandise with illegal merchandise, taking advantage of the ordinary traffic of everyday consumer products.

On the other hand, with the use of the vacuum packaging technique, which has the double advantage of pressing the marijuana to reduce its volume and introduce a greater quantity, while at the same time hiding the characteristic smell that would reveal its presence.

For these events, the occupant of the truck was arrested for a drug trafficking crime. The detainee, along with the relevant documents, was handed over to the Court of Instruction No. 1 of Barakaldo, which is hearing the case.