Joint operation of the Tax Agency and Mossos d'Esquadra

• Officials of the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency and the Mossos d'Esquadra arrest 56 people, including the heads of the organization, and dismantle 24 plantations with 22,600 plants and 166 kilos of buds

• The joint and coordinated investigation allows us to confirm that the marijuana business continues to take root strongly in Catalonia and that criminal organizations establish themselves in the territory to grow and export marijuana to Europe.

• The leaders of the criminal group enjoyed a high standard of living and one of them had legally acquired a restaurant business.

• To launch the plantations, the organization legally rented real estate with an option to purchase at a price between 1,500 and 2,000 euros.

• One of the common links on which the different plantations pivoted was the figure of a professional electrician, who was also arrested, and who optimally designed and installed the irrigation and lighting installations.

• They mainly cultivated the 'amnesia' and 'critical' marijuana varieties, characterized by being very powerful, with good production capacity, easy to grow and with a sales price that ranged between 2,300 and 2,500 euros per kilo.

• The substance was transported to northern European countries where its price could be multiplied by three or four.

• Some of the members of the organization lived in very precarious living conditions and in many cases were subject to the control of their bosses.

• Of those arrested, 90% had no police record and 13 have been imprisoned, the typical profile being a man under 35 years old, foreign and without a municipality of residence.

• During the time that the investigation lasted, at least one assault by some other rival organization or group was reported, and different firearms and bladed weapons, such as katanas, have been found at the entrances.

June 16, 2022.- Officials of the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency and agents of the Generalitat Police - Mossos d'Esquadra of the Criminal Investigation Division, have dismantled a of the largest criminal networks dedicated to the trafficking and cultivation of marijuana established throughout Catalonia and have arrested 56 people, between 19 and 58 years old, to whom they are attributed crimes against public health, in the aspect of trafficking of drugs, membership in a criminal organization and electricity fraud.

On May 24, a joint and coordinated operation between the two police forces that was carried out in different municipalities of Catalonia ended with the dismantling of the criminal organization and the arrest of 56 people, among whom were the heads of the organization. A total of 37 searches were also carried out, 24 plantations were dismantled and more than 22,600 plants and 166 kilos of buds prepared for sale were intervened. The seized drugs have an approximate value in the illicit market of around 325,000 euros.

During the operation, the agents located a total of 225,765 euros in cash, a shotgun, a revolver with live ammunition, a compressed air pistol and different knives.

Once the plantations are dismantled, the recovered properties will be returned to their owners as the judicial authority determines. The installation of the lighting and irrigation systems had seriously damaged their state of conservation, since in many cases modifications had been made to the properties to adapt the plantations, tearing down walls, making holes in doors, windows or ceilings, and damaging the electrical installations, among other interventions.

The profile of the detainees is that of a man under 35 years old, a foreigner, without a municipality of residence and without a police record from the Mossos d'Esquadra. Specifically, nearly 90% of those arrested had no police record. Thirteen of the 56 arrested were imprisoned once they were brought to justice. According to the researchers, they would be part of the core of the leadership that made the most strategic decisions.

The volume of business of marijuana producers

After analyzing the different samples of marijuana intervened in police operations to extract the percentage of the active ingredient THC, it is estimated that, under normal conditions such as those reproduced in dismantled plantations, for every 500 plants in the advanced flowering phase, an average of about 10 kilos of dried marijuana suitable for sale.

Since this investigation was launched, approximately in the month of May 2021, the criminal organization would have had time to plant three plantations with their subsequent harvests.

Taking into account this fact, and taking into account that 22,600 plants were intervened in a stage prior to flowering, the analysts assume that the organization would have had the capacity to produce about 1,275 kilos of marijuana per year, which would imply a wholesale price of about 3.1 million euros.

Once transported to northern European countries, its retail price is multiplied by three or four, increasing its profits to a range of between nine and twelve million euros, with the consequent increase in profitability that comes with its sale to the general public. foreign market.

Study of electrical fluid fraud

A total of 50 technicians from the electrical company Endesa also participated in this device to check the installations and electrical fluid fraud. In this sense, of the 29 inspections that were carried out at the different locations investigated, fraud was detected in 28, and only one was legal. The 28 inspections where irregularities were detected corresponded to plantations, while in the other case it was a home where no crops were grown.

The total amount of energy defrauded is 4.39 GWh, the equivalent of the consumption of 1,256 homes, assuming an annual consumption of 3,500 kWh/home. The amount of energy defrauded amounts to more than one and a half million euros.

Anonymous information triggers the investigation

The investigation, supervised by the Central Court of Instruction number 1 of the National Court, was activated in mid-May last year following anonymous information that alerted the Mossos d'Esquadra that, in an industrial warehouse in Sant Vicenç de Castellet (Bages, Barcelona), suspicious and possibly criminal activity was taking place. The investigators were able to prove this information and, in addition, collected evidence that pointed to the commission of more crimes against public health in other parts of Bages, and later in the rest of Catalonia.

As the investigation progressed, new lines of work were opened, each with its own particularities, but all of them pointed out and outlined a single criminal structure that led the different plantations that were being discovered throughout the territory.

The joint investigation team was relating the localized crops until verifying and confirming that the organization had spread to all of Catalonia.

According to the researchers, the fact of spreading the crops throughout the territory was due to the need to diversify the risks so that, in the event of a local or regional police intervention, the production and distribution structure would always remain active. The operation on May 24 allowed the entire criminal structure operating on the different active points maintained by the organization to be dismantled.

The functioning of the organization

The leaders of the criminal group, although they were foreigners, were settled in Catalonia and enjoyed a high standard of living. They had established themselves in the districts of Gerona and Tarragona, where it was determined that one of their members legally acquired a restaurant establishment.

Once they decided on the locations where they would install the plantations, the members of the group legally rented properties, in some cases high-end and with a purchase option, at a price between 1,500 and 2,500 euros. The owners of the properties were unaware of the activity. illegality that was developing.

At this point, one of the common links on which the different plantations pivoted was the figure of a professional electrician, who at first tapped into the electricity supply stations and provided the premises and houses with the necessary power to service them. The plantation.

He also optimally designed and installed irrigation and lighting facilities to increase production and reduce harvest time as much as possible. As an example, in plantations more common lighting systems, such as sodium bulbs, were combined with lighting systems with LED lights.

Parallel to the start-up of the plantation, the chiefs imported 'gardeners' from their country of origin to defend the plantations against possible attacks by another organization. During the time that the investigation lasted, an assault by some other rival organization or group was reported in the month of April in the town of Sant Vicenç de Castellet. It so happened that the assailants accessed a disused building next to one of the plantations, which the organization was no longer using, and they did not achieve their objective.

The workers who took care of the plantations were foreign men, brought to Catalonia by the structure of the organization, which is why nearly 90% had no police records. They were in charge of the plantation and its security, in very precarious living conditions and in many cases subject to the control of the members of the organization.

They mainly grew two genetically modified varieties of marijuana called 'amnesia' and 'critical'. These two varieties are characterized by having powerful effects, ease of cultivation, short flowering and high potential production, with a price on the black market that ranges between 2,300 and 2,500 euros per kilo. This price is significantly above the average established in European price standards for this substance.

The drug was transported mainly to the European market by road, although, in this specific case, the investigators were also able to detect relationships with a store supplying material for marijuana crops.

The money they obtained from the illegal sale of marijuana generated mostly net profits, of which a small part was reinvested, mainly in the production of more plantations. Investigators found that at least one member of the group had acquired a furniture construction and sales company in his country of origin.

Repetition of criminal patterns

Analysts have estimated that in this criminal group the patterns that have been recorded in the different investigations carried out during the last year are repeated.

International criminal organizations that produce and distribute marijuana see Catalonia as the ideal market where they can initially acquire marijuana, and then move on to cultivating it, settling in Catalan territory as in the case investigated.

This stage of implementation in Catalonia increases in level when violence between different groups comes into play and attacks occur between organizations to steal the substance from another producer, instead of having to grow it, dry it and package it.

Once established and operating, the organizations set their tentacles in Catalonia through, above all, the acquisition, always legally, of real estate, businesses and other properties that are used to launder, at least in part, the money obtained. of the illicit business. Another part of the profits was also invested abroad. Currently, it is being investigated whether in this case the dismantled criminal organization was already at that stage.

To carry out their activity, the criminals requested the services of various professionals from different sectors. Some, such as lawyers, gardeners or electricians, are aware of criminal activity and others are not, such as landlords, transporters, etc.

The investigation remains open.