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Date Published: 15/12/2021
ARCHIVED - Spain to work closely with electricity companies to stamp out marijuana plantations
Marijuana trafficking is the main criminal activity in Spain behind cannabis and cocaine
Marijuana is a big business in Spain and the number of illegal plantations which supply both the national and European market has grown exponentially in recent years. Now one of the main criminal activities in this country, behind only the trafficking of hashish and cocaine, in just six years the seizure of plants has increased by between 150 and 305%.
The experts believe the warm climate in Spain is one of the main attractions for criminals developing marijuana plantations, but there are also huge areas of unpopulated land where the cultivation can go unnoticed and the equipment needed to successfully grow the drug can be found with relative ease.
To combat the growing illegal trade, the government unveiled its National Action Plan Against Crime Associated with the Production and Trafficking of Marijuana on Tuesday December 14, through which it has vowed to work more closely with electricity providers to flush out the illicit plantations, which frequently tap into the national grid to maintain their crops. In addition, the authorities want to impose more controls on so-called cannabis clubs and ensure that seized narcotics are destroyed in a more timely fashion.
The Prosecutor’s Office has warned that a serious crackdown is needed to dismantle the mafia-type organisations responsible for exporting drugs from Spain to the rest of Europe. These “violent” criminals do not just confine themselves to narcotics but also specialise in human trafficking, a practice which the Office has described as “a contemporary form of slavery”.
Solving the problem is no easy task, however, as the mafias operate in many provinces throughout Spain and under several different guises. Recent investigations have discovered, for example, marijuana plantations in Andalucía being hidden behind the front of hemp farms, and in Lleida, illegal plants camouflaged among corn crops.
Image: Guardia Civil
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