Police dismantle two gangs growing cannabis worth €49m in remote Catalan Pyrenees

Catalan police have dismantled two criminal gangs dedicated to cultivating outdoor cannabis farms in remote, difficult-to-reach corners of the Catalan Pyrenees. 

As part of an investigation that began in July 2022, the Mossos d'Esquadra have arrested 21 people for allegedly belonging to a criminal organization and for crimes against public health. 

Police have destroyed a total of 27,000 plants, equivalent to 8.1 tons of drugs, with an estimated wholesale value of €16 million (among drug traffickers) and a street value of €49 million.  

The gangs' operations extended to Ponent (western Catalonia) and Central Catalonia, with farms discovered in the counties of Alt Urgell, Pallars Jussà, Pallars Sobirà, Noguera and Osona.  

Deterrent 

The Mossos d'Esquadra trust that the crackdown on cannabis cultivation will serve as a warning to dissuade criminal organizations from setting up plantations in these remote corners of the Pyrenees. 

Up to three harvests a year were possible at the cannabis farms in question, according to César Jou, head of the Criminal Investigation Area (AIC) of the Alt Pirineu and Aran Police Region. 

The 21 people arrested are all men between the ages of 19 and 40, originally from Eastern Europe. The police investigation is ongoing and further arrests have not been ruled out. 

"We hope that with this hit to their organization, now that they've seen all their plants dismantled, we hope this deters them from returning," Jou said.

First phase 

The first phase of the police investigation began at the beginning of July 2022 with the discovery of an outdoor cannabis farm in La Baronia de Rialb (Noguera County), run by an organization that carried out cultivation, maintenance and care of the plantation as well as surveillance of the area. 

Police concluded that a minimum of four people were permanently based at the site, working on the illegal farm. 

On September 6, 2022, police entered the plantation with the support of the Special Intervention Group as, according to the Mossos, these types of gangs usually install dangerous traps at the farm entrances to delay police and give members more time to escape. 

Officers discovered more than 1,800 marijuana plants, equal to 500 kg of marijuana with a street value of over €3 million. 

Following the dismantling of the first plantation, another one was found in Baronia de Rialb, where police destroyed 3,000 plants and arrested three people. 

Four raids 

On September 13, 2023, police simultaneously raided four cannabis farms they had been monitoring for several months in a second phase of the operation in the counties of Pallars Jussà and Osona. 

They arrested nine people and dismantled more than 6,000 marijuana plants across four plantations, more than half of them in Sarroca de Bellera. 

According to police, several people lived at the farms for an undetermined period of time. Officers discovered mattresses, sleeping bags and kitchen utensils. They also found marijuana plants that were handled for packing, as well as water collection points, pumps and sophisticated irrigation systems. 

Other investigations showed that once marijuana buds are dry and ready for consumption, gang members vacuum pack the plant and transport it to their final destination, which tends to be countries in the north of Europe, where the price of cannabis can be double or triple the street value in Catalonia. 

Podcast 

Listen to the podcast below to learn more about cannabis in Catalonia: 'Cannabis clubs and weed farms – Catalonia, Europe's marijuana hotbed'.