After breaking up a group in Orihuela (Alicante) that was supposedly growing marijuana and selling drugs, the National Police arrested 13 people, including eight men and five women aged 23 to 66. They are accused of drug trafficking, being part of a criminal group, electricity fraud, illegal possession of weapons, and animal abuse.
As part of this investigation, called Caterpillar-Zulo, seven homes in this town were searched, and police found guns, 527 marijuana plants, cocaine, and about €7,000 in cash. The police said that they also rescued a number of dogs who were living in filthy conditions.
The investigation started after “numerous complaints from neighbours” about a few homes in a part of Orihuela that were being lived in by people and smelt strongly of marijuana.
The Judicial Police Brigades of the Alicante and Orihuela Provincial Police Stations watched the dwellings that were being looked at in order to find a probable indoor marijuana grow enterprise. They smelt a strong and typical marijuana smell in a few of them and heard the sound of air conditioning fans.
The police centred their investigation around a familial clan. The primary suspect had already been detained once before, during a police operation in which five plantations were taken down in the same district and five persons were arrested.
After gathering the evidence and confirming that the suspects allegedly used the homes to grow marijuana indoors, they moved on to the exploitation phase of the investigation.
In this case, they asked the Justice to go into and search seven homes so that they could stop everything that the accused were reportedly doing that was illegal.
After the searches, they found two marijuana farms with about 527 plants that were in full bloom. The plants grew and thrived thanks to a modern lighting and ventilation system and an electrical supply that was said to come from an illegal connection to the electrical grid.
In addition, police recovered two guns and a shotgun that were in excellent working order, as well as six fake combat weapons, precision scales, cocaine, two cars, and 6,855 euros in cash.
Dogs that are not getting enough food in dirty rooms
The police operation ended with the arrest of these 13 people. In addition, the agents uncovered five canines in two of the homes being investigated that were in “deplorable” nutritional condition and were kept in “completely unsanitary” rooms without food or ventilation.
The National Police say that one of the animals had its ears chopped off in a way that wasn’t clean. Two of the people who were detained were also charged with abusing animals. The canines were taken to the Orihuela animal shelter.
Eight of the people who were arrested have been turned over to the duty investigating courts of Orihuela after the police looked into the matter.
Author: Derek Appleton
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