Joint operation of the Tax Agency and the National Police

• Seven people of five different nationalities have been arrested in the province of Girona, and two sailboats have been seized that were used to load the drugs in the waters of Ibiza and transport them to the peninsular coast.
• The building that the organization used to receive the hashish had its own dock and also housed a marijuana plantation, which has been dismantled.
• This is the largest seizure of hashish on sailboats in the province of Girona in the last decade, in a context of renewed use of the Catalan coast for shipments of this drug.

April 28, 2023.- Customs Surveillance officials from the Tax Agency and agents from the National Police, within the framework of a joint investigation, have dismantled an organization that intended to introduce 3,000 kilos of hashish into Girona by sailboats. Seven people of five different nationalities have been arrested in the province of Girona, and two sailboats have been seized that were used to load the drugs in the waters of Ibiza and transport them to the peninsular coast.

The building that the organisation used to receive the hashish had its own dock and also housed a marijuana plantation, which, along with another one located in a different building, have also been intervened.

The operation began at the end of last year. Customs Surveillance in Girona begins investigation into a criminal group that could be introducing hashish into the area of Santa Margarida (Roses). The investigation focused on a number of citizens of various nationalities who travelled in recreational boats to the south of Ibiza, where they received a large quantity of hashish which they later unloaded at the mooring of a private house in the town of Girona.

It was then that, through the Center for Intelligence against Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO), a joint investigation began to be coordinated between the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency and the National Police.

'Nursery' with its own landing stage

To carry out its illegal activity, the organization chose a location that made the work of investigators difficult. It was a residential area with canals, where the houses had their own pier that was only accessible from their homes. In addition, they are usually inhabited by temporary residents and tourists of different nationalities. This high turnover and the characteristics of the homes made it more difficult to detect members of the organization.

As a result of the investigations, it was discovered that the organization was going to go out to sea after Easter. Customs Surveillance officers in Girona, with the support of the Customs Surveillance Reaction and Intervention Group of Catalonia, organised a standby operation that lasted from the arrival of the sailboat at midday on the 12th until the early hours of the 13th April, when they saw that the suspects were loading the bales of hashish into a van and decided to intervene.

The suspects were observed entering and leaving the boat and the house, using headlamps with lights to provide minimal illumination to the area, which was in complete darkness. Once the bales had been moved from the boat to the house, they parked the van at the door and proceeded to load them.

At that time, Customs Surveillance investigators arrested three people, after rescuing one of them, who had jumped into the water in an attempt to escape.

In subsequent operations, four other people were arrested and 75 bales of hashish were seized, weighing 2,854 kilos of the drug. A second sailboat that the organisation intended to use for transport was also seized, but was ultimately discarded due to a breakdown.

864 marijuana plants seized

A search of the home, which had been used for the stash, also revealed a marijuana plantation, which is unusual for a plantation to be set up in the same building used to store hashish. Another plantation was seized in subsequent house searches.

In total, 75 bales of hashish, 864 marijuana plants, two sailboats and a van were seized. The seven detainees (two German citizens, one Colombian, one French, two Spaniards and one Romanian) have been placed at the disposal of the Investigative Court number 6 of Figueres, which has conducted the investigation.

The large quantity of hashish seized in this operation represents the largest seizure of this drug in the province of Girona that has been introduced by sea with recreational vessels in the last decade, in a context in which the Catalan coast is once again being used for hashish shipments.

The operation, coordinated through the Centre for Intelligence against Terrorism and Organised Crime (CITCO), was carried out by the Combined Customs Surveillance Units of Girona and Cádiz and the National Police.