Mason Jones (Reporter)
POLICE and customs officers have made two record drug hauls in just one week.
In the largest marijuana drug bust ever seen a joint operation between Spanish and Dutch police closed 15 indoor drug factories around the Costa del Sol.
A total of 13,000 marijuana plants were seized as well as 23 properties in Holland and Spain valued at €4.4 million.
Police also took an assortment of luxury cars and motorcycles, valued at €1.1 million, as well as a kilo of esctasy, €24,000 in cash, €2,300 in fake notes and a pistol.
The gang, made up of mainly Dutch nationals used state-of-the-art ‘hydroponic’ equipment at 15 farms along the coast.
The drugs were then exported to Holland, while the gang also imported ecstasy from the Netherlands to Spain.
The haul came just days after officers in Algericas seized 33 tonnes of hashish in a lorry that had arrived from Tangier and was supposedly carrying melons.
The haul was the biggest shipment ever to arrive in a single lorry, and double the largest previous amount seized.
The driver of the lorry has been arrested.
A reasonable drug policy could indeed contribute quite a bit to a struggling economy.
Of course the real narcotics that kill are completely legal – nicotine and alcohol.
Strange that big heroin busts never happen – greasing of palms helps a lot there.
So one raid allows them (the state) a 5,526,300 euro ‘profit’ no wonder the government are keen to ‘stop’ marijuana production, but they would ‘earn’ much more from legalizing it (and stop criminals from controlling the sale and quality of product).
Time long overdue for a decriminalization of commercial production, properly licensed, paying taxes, ensuring good quality, as opposed to a drugs ‘war’ that they obviously cannot win, because like it or not Mary J is a part of most youngsters lives nowadays.
Why “youngsters”? It’s been around for thousands of years. Hemp seeds were found in the pyramids, Queen Victoria was fond of a tincture for childbirth.
Absolutely agree on decriminalisation and controlled legal sale. Hard slog taking on the established legal drugs trade though, as Stuart points out.