As if it were a garden within another garden, the Huesca Civil Guard has located six macro-plantations of marijuana hidden in difficult-to-access areas of the Aragonese Pyrenees, where more than 12 tons of this plant were grown. In total, the agents have arrested 14 people in the operation - a woman and 13 men between 25 and 56 years old - accused of belonging to a criminal group dedicated to the cultivation and trafficking of drugs.
The investigations, carried out by agents from the Graus Armed Institute (Huesca), began in March when they discovered several marijuana plantations in remote and almost inaccessible places in the Huesca regions of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza.
The alleged perpetrators used a particular modus operandi for their illicit activity. According to the agents, each plantation was tended by two or three people who lived hidden in perfectly camouflaged camps in the forest, from where they organized their cultivation, maintenance and surveillance.
The individuals were prepared to live up to six months in extreme conditions, for which they had a supply of food, gas, basic items and work materials to maintain the plantations.
The caretakers maintained a maximum level of alert at all times, with several escape routes through the forest to escape from the agents in case they were discovered. In some of the camps they had installed rudimentary alarm systems that warned of the possible presence of a stranger.
The difficulty of the terrain in which they operated required the specific intervention of the Air Unit and the Underwater Activities Group (GEAS) of the Civil Guard, which collaborated in key exploitation and surveillance tasks to locate and access the plantations.
In addition to 12,637 marijuana plants and 73 kilos of dried buds, the agents dismantled 18 camps and 9 drying rooms used by the detainees. They also seized several weapons, water rafts, generators, water pumps and tools for growing and processing drugs.
Of those detained, eight have been remanded in provisional detention, while the other six are free with charges. On the other hand, the seized plants were destroyed on site with judicial authorization.
The presence of large marijuana plantations in the Pyrenees is not something new. Two weeks ago, Mossos d'Escuadra reported that between last summer and 2022 they dismantled two criminal organizations dedicated to the cultivation of marijuana in areas of very difficult access in the Catalan Pyrenees and its subsequent distribution.
The agents arrested 21 men between 19 and 40 years old, originally from eastern countries, as alleged perpetrators of crimes involving membership in a criminal organization and against public health. In addition, they destroyed 27,000 plants, which would represent 8.1 tons of drugs, with a value in the illicit market estimated at 16 million euros for wholesale sales (among drug traffickers) and 49 million for retail sales.
