Police in Spain have seized one of the largest stashes of cannabis ever found - weighing in at more than 32 tonnes.
The country’s Civil Guard found the huge haul after raiding locations across Spain - in Toledo, Ciudad Real, Valencia and Asturias - where the drug was reportedly stored by a “complex business network”.
The Civil Guard described it as “the largest cache of packaged marijuana found so far”.
Inacutado el mayor alijo de marihuana descubierto hasta el momento.
— Guardia Civil 🇪🇸 (@guardiacivil) November 5, 2022
La organización desmantelada tenía más de 32 toneladas de cogollos de esta droga almacenada en Toledo, Ciudad Real, Valencia y Asturias.https://t.co/hXx8XR9HdE pic.twitter.com/QigxbsuBg0
“The Jardines operation has concluded with the seizure of 32,370.2 kilograms of marijuana buds, the largest seizure of this substance, not only in Spain, but also internationally,” it said.
Spanish police say the stash equates to approximately 1.1m marijuana plants, while the BBC reports it has an estimated street value of more than £57m.
The weight of the cannabis seized equates to that of about two-and-a-half double-decker buses.
The Civil Guard said the organisation behind the operation supplied vacuum-packed marijuana throughout Spain, as well as to other countries including Switzerland, Holland, Germany and Belgium.
Twenty people - 11 women and nine men aged between 20 and 59 - have been arrested following the raids.
The Civil Guard claims the production and distribution process was split up into various “companies” - with one group sourcing the seeds, a second transporting and planting them, another caring for and drying the plants, and another with storing them in two warehouses in Valencia.
From there, they were separated, vacuum packed and sent out.
