The Civil Guard of the Region of Murcia, within the framework of the services established to prevent and prosecute drug trafficking, has developed in Águilas the operation ‘Cañabro’, an investigation that has led to the discovery of the storage and imminent distribution of more than four tonnes of cannabis, which was passed off as commercial hemp.
In the operation, so far, the Benemérita’s Citizen Security Prevention officers have investigated a resident of the municipality, who has been instructed as the alleged perpetrator of a crime against public health, for drug trafficking.
The Guardia Civil opened the operation at the end of last year to investigate a series of indications related to drug trafficking in the municipality aguileño, specifically with the illicit distribution of large quantities of marijuana, as reported by sources of the Benemérita in a statement.
The first steps of the operation allowed investigators to obtain indications of the existence of a large warehouse that could house huge quantities of cannabis plants.
Once the property where the cannabis was allegedly being stored was located, the civil guards set up a surveillance operation and verified their suspicions that it housed a large quantity of dried marijuana plants.
As a result of the investigation, it was discovered that the plants, once dried and cut, were carefully stored inside large cardboard boxes awaiting future distribution on the illicit market. The warehouse was equipped with ventilation devices for the optimal preservation of the cannabis until it was sold, thus preventing it from rotting.
What most caught the attention of the investigators was that the plants had been cultivated, manipulated and hidden under the false appearance of a legal hemp farm dedicated to the manufacture of cosmetics and textile articles, although as the investigation progressed, the civil guards found that they lacked the required authorisations for this activity and irregularities in the acquisition of the seeds.
During the investigation, it was also found that the very characteristics of the plants, which all contained flowering tops – coconuts – meant that they could never have been used for the licit purposes allegedly declared.
Once all the necessary evidence had been obtained, the Guardia Civil located and investigated a resident of the municipality of Aguileño, as the alleged perpetrator of a crime against public health, for drug trafficking. At that moment they also seized all the cannabis plants that were in the warehouse, which had a total weight of 4,080 kilograms, thus preventing the illicit substances from being distributed on the illicit market.
The suspect, the seized drugs, the seized effects and the proceedings have been placed at the disposal of the Court of Instruction of Lorca (Murcia).