MADRID – Spanish police say they seized the biggest amount of cannabis ever last month. The street value of the catch was at least €64 million.
According to the Civil Guard, 32 tons of packaged marijuana would be the largest amount ever found internationally. Nine men and 11 women between the ages of 20 and 59 have been arrested. This was following raids on a series of farms and production facilities across Spain. Moreover, the drugs were packaged at these locations.
1.1 million cannabis plants seized
In a statement about this operation, dubbed “Gardens,” the Spanish Civil Guard said it seized “the largest cache of packaged marijuana found to date.”
“It corresponded to about 1.1 million plants,” it added. The gang dried the marijuana plants. Then they packaged them and shipped them to parts of Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.
Police said the company was run by several “companies” that carried out the various parts of the process – from buying the seeds to growing and drying the plants, to packing and shipping them. The Guardia Civil spoke of a ‘complex business distribution network’.
Gang leaders were arrested in Toledo, Ciudad Real, Valencia and Asturias last month, but details of the operation were only made public on Saturday.
Also read: Drug trafficking organisation in Barcelona dismantled
