NAVARRA – The Foral Police of Navarra (similar to the Policia Nacional) together with the Guardia Civil has dismantled the largest marijuana plantation in Europe, cannabis Sativa, destined for drug trafficking.
Three people have been arrested, and a further two are under investigation. A total of 415,000 plants have been destroyed. Moreover, the value of this would have been around €30 million for processing into CBD (cannabidiol) which would then have reached a street value of €100 million.
Large hemp plantation
The investigation began mid-way through 2021. A police agent discovered a large hemp plantation where there were questions over its legality. Consequently, investigations began between police in the towns of Artajona and Olite. There they found 11 hemp farms that occupied 67 hectares and had over 400,000 plants.
Processing
The investigators became suspicious when they were told the plantations were legal and that the hemp was for industrial use. However, the man had made a sizeable investment in this, and the final destinations of the plants were countries such as Switzerland and Italy. Both are well-known for the processing of plants to produce CBD-derived products. Furthermore, this is an activity that is prohibited in Spain.
Drying the marijuana
Those arrested were found to have organised a large warehouse in Artajona. This was equipped with a ventilation and temperature control system for drying the plants.
Later, it was discovered that a truck loaded with the dried plants was about to be shipped to Italy. Some 23,000 cannabis plants were seized. Furthermore, 13,000 marijuana plants were found in the `drying process´. This yielded a total weight of over 50,000 kilos. These plants have also been destroyed.
Destroyed
All other plants amounting to some 375,000, were also cut down and destroyed.
So, in total, 415,000 cannabis Sativa plants were seized, three people were arrested in Navarra and another two are being investigated in Bizkaia.
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