Operation against drug trafficking

• Four people of different nationalities arrested
• More than 5,000 plants have been intervened in three searches carried out in Hospitalet de Llobregat and Granollers
• At the time of one of the searches, the detainees broke the plantation's water pipes to flood the premises and prevent the action.

May 31, 2023.- Customs Surveillance Officials of the Tax Agency in Catalonia have dismantled three plantations in the province of Barcelona dedicated to the intensive cultivation of marijuana with the intervention of 5,312 marijuana plants and the arrest of four people.

The first of the operations' interventions, called 'Primavera', took place in an industrial warehouse in Hospitalet de Llobregat on April 18, where researchers discovered a large 'indoor' plantation in the basements of the aforementioned warehouse. which the electricity supply came through a tunnel that they had made to prevent the illegal connection from being seen. In total, 1,931 marijuana plants were seized and two people of Chinese nationality were arrested.

At the time of the intervention by the Customs Surveillance officials, the detainees broke the water pipes to flood the premises and prevent the action, making it necessary for the services of the water supply company and the Police to intervene. Hospitalet de Llobregat premises.

The next intervention took place on May 3 in a farmhouse located in a rural area near Granollers and away from other buildings, thus seeking the organization's maximum discretion. In this farmhouse, a total of 1,455 plants were intervened and a person of Albanian nationality was arrested. To protect the farmhouse, the organization also had two dangerous breed dogs that were handed over to an animal protection association.

Planting with high sophistication and efficiency

The last of the operations was carried out on May 26 in another warehouse in the same municipality of Hospitalet de Llobregat, in which 1,926 plants were found in addition to 5,687 grams of buds and 4,404 grams of crushed marijuana. In this intervention, a citizen of Spanish nationality was arrested.

On this occasion, the plantation attracted attention for its sophistication, with different dependencies depending on the type of plant and state of growth and the use of different substances and chemicals to make the cultivation of marijuana more efficient, to the point that in At the initial moment of registration, doubts arose about whether it could be a legal installation, a fact that was ruled out.

A total of 40 Customs Surveillance personnel from Catalonia participated in the development of the operation, with the support of the Drone Unit and the Intervention Group.

The objective of this type of operations is to intensify actions against this type of criminal activity, in which criminal organizations and groups of different nationalities participate and already supply countries around the world, although the main market is national and European.