Joint operation of the Tax Agency and Civil Guard

• A young Albanian belonging to 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 of the Tax Agency and agents of the Civil Guard, within the framework of operation 'Lopi/Pájaro', have dismantled a production center of marijuana belonging to an international criminal organization in the town of Molvízar.

In this operation, a young Albanian, twenty-one years old, with no police record, has been arrested so far as the alleged perpetrator of a crime of belonging to a criminal organization, 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 action began last October when investigators from the Salobreña Civil Guard located a marijuana production center on the outskirts of the town of Molvízar that belonged to a criminal organization with branches in Albania, headed by two citizens. Albanians, which was being investigated by agents of the Motril Customs Surveillance Service.

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

Officials from the Motril Customs Surveillance participated in the device, along with agents from the Civil Guard of the Motril Company, the Rapid Action Group of the Civil Guard, the Citizen Security Unit, the Cynological Service, the Pegaso team and the Air Unit of the Granada Command and the Almuñécar Judicial Police team, together with the electrical company operators.

During the search, 185 plants were found in a state of half flowering and another 600 that did not yet have flowers, which ensured continued production of marijuana over the next few months. They also located 48 grams of marijuana, two bags with cannabis sativa seeds and a Reck Gas P6 detonating pistol modified with a 6.35 caliber rifled barrel so that it could fire live fire.

The electrical company operators certified the existence of two illegal double connections to the electrical network, a 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 Criminalistics laboratories of the Civil Guard for study.

There was a young Albanian in the house who, upon noticing the presence of the agents, left the house and ran away through the mountains, having later been caught and arrested. He himself has entered prison.

The operation remains open and investigations continue to locate and arrest the other person involved, without ruling out the possibility of making more arrests.