As a result of the operation called ‘Eguein’, the Guardia Civil of the Command of Almeria has arrested a 33 year old man as a perpetrator of the crimes of cultivation and processing of drugs and fraud of electricity, and has seized 540 marijuana plants in a house in the municipality of Arboleas.
This investigation is the result of the continuous preventive activities carried out by the Guardia Civil in its ongoing fight against the trafficking, cultivation or processing of narcotic substances in the Almeria region of the Almanzora Valley. This operation was initiated as a result of police investigations and operational controls in the area, in addition to the numerous communications provided by neighbours through the anonymous channels open to citizens available to the Guardia Civil.
As a result of the preventive work and citizen security tasks, the agents, aware of the impact of having an indoor crop in a residential area with numerous families with underage children, organised a device to check if any criminal activity was being carried out in the area. In this way, the agents detected the intense smell of marijuana and the incessant and annoying noise reported by the neighbours. In addition, they observed that the electricity supply cables located on the façade of two adjoining houses had been tampered with.
The process and continuous analysis of the information obtained allowed the agents to find out that the perpetrator was the only inhabitant of one of the houses, where he lived regularly. He also occasionally spent the night in the adjoining house, which he had used to house a marijuana plantation. Based on the line of investigation, the agents proceeded to the inspection and search of the houses and found an indoor marijuana plantation in one of them.
During the course of the inspection, the Guardia Civil seized a total of 540 marijuana plants, in a medium state of flowering, distributed in six rooms perfectly prepared for the optimum yield and development of the plantation. They also seized a large amount of equipment and material used to maximise the acceleration of the growth of the marijuana crop (cannavis sativa).
At the same time, the Guardia Civil agents verified that two illegal connections had been made to the electricity and water mains in the houses, and that one of them had been used to house a marijuana plantation, set up with an elaborate and sophisticated automated electrical and water system. Both have been neutralised by qualified technical personnel, which leads to the investigation of the commission of another offence of fraudulent use of electricity and water.
As a result of the investigation, the Guardia Civil de la Comandancia de Almería located an indoor marijuana plantation and neutralised two illegal connections to the electricity and water supply network in a house in the town of Arboleas.
They also identified and arrested the perpetrator, who had already been investigated and arrested in July 2021 for cultivating marijuana in the same homes, for committing a crime against public health for cultivation and preparation of drugs and another for fraudulent use of electricity and water.
The proceedings, together with the detainee, the marijuana plants and the material seized, are placed at the disposal of the Duty Court of Huércal Overa.