Joint operation between the Tax Agency and the Civil Guard

• A young Albanian member of an international criminal organization has been arrested
• In the operation, the agents seized 785 cannabis sativa plants and a detonating pistol modified to fire live fire.

November 11, 2022.- Customs Surveillance officials from the Tax Agency and agents from the Civil Guard, within the framework of operation 'Lopi/Pájaro', have dismantled a marijuana production center belonging to an international criminal organization in the town of Molvízar.

In this operation, a young Albanian man, aged twenty-one, with no previous criminal record, has been arrested so far as the alleged perpetrator of a crime of belonging to a criminal organisation, a crime against public health for drug cultivation and trafficking, a crime of illegal possession of weapons and a crime of electricity fraud.

In the exploitation phase of the operation, agents have seized 785 cannabis sativa plants in different stages of growth to ensure continued production of marijuana throughout the year; of 45 grams of marijuana and a detonator pistol modified to fire live fire.

The operation began last October when investigators from the Civil Guard of Salobreña located a marijuana production centre on the outskirts of the town of Molvízar that belonged to a criminal organisation with branches in Albania, headed by two Albanian citizens, which was being investigated by agents of the Customs Surveillance Service of Motril.

Once the conclusive evidence was obtained and authorization was obtained from the Court of First Instance and Instruction number four of Motril, the suspicious house was searched.

The operation involved officers from the Motril Customs Surveillance Department, together with agents from the Motril Civil Guard Company, the Rapid Action Group of the Civil Guard, the Citizen Security Unit, the Canine Service, the Pegaso team and the Air Unit of the Granada Command and the Judicial Police team from Almuñécar, together with the operators of the electric company.

During the search, 185 plants were found in a state of semi-flowering and another 600 that had not yet bloomed, which ensured continued production of marijuana over the coming months. They also located 48 grams of marijuana, two bags with cannabis sativa seeds and a Reck Gas P6 detonator pistol modified with a 6.35-caliber rifled barrel so that it could fire live ammunition.

The electricity company's workers certified the existence of two illegal double connections to the electricity grid, one single-phase that measured 71 amps and another three-phase that consumed 87, 47 and 64 amps respectively.

The seized weapon has been sent to the Civil Guard's Criminalistics laboratories for analysis.

A young Albanian man was in the house and, upon noticing the presence of the officers, he left the house and ran off into the mountains, where he was later caught and arrested. He himself has been sent to prison.

The operation is still ongoing and investigations are continuing to locate and arrest the other person involved, although the possibility of making more arrests is not ruled out.