The Mossos Esquadra have dismantled this Thursday an important marijuana plantation in which there were more than 1,800 plants distributed in 14 greenhouses in the Lleida municipality of Almatret. As reported by the Catalan police this Thursday, one person was arrested in the operation that allowed the dismantling of this marijuana plantation in greenhouses, while three others managed to flee.
The greenhouses where the plantation was located are in an isolated area located about 10 kilometers from Almatret, where before there were tree nurseries connected to irrigation water from the Segrià River. The Mossos were alerted by some residents and hunters of the possible existence of a marijuana plantation in these greenhouses.
Specifically, the Catalan police received information from Almatret residents who suggested that there could be an intensive cultivation of marijuana in an isolated area with difficult access to the Aiguamol ravine.
“It is the first marijuana plantation in the demarcation of Lleida that we have found in professional greenhouses, since until now we were used to finding the typical plantations in warehouses or houses in towns, or even in the middle of the forest,” said the sergeant and deputy chief of the Investigation Unit of the Mossos d’Esquadra of Lleida, David Mora.
The police chose to organize a first operation this Wednesday that allowed them to confirm the existence of the plantation and locate four people who were in charge of the crop, one of whom was arrested. This is a 44-year-old man of Albanian nationality. However, the other three involved were able to flee. “We must take into account that it is a very large area with forest right nearby. In any case, the investigation is still open and we hope to locate the three escapees as well as everyone who may be related to the plantation,” Mora said.
The Mossos d’Esquadra have returned to the area this Thursday to begin to dismantle the plantation and search the facilities by order of the Lleida Guard Court. The plants are between 80 centimeters and 1.20 meters tall, and were expected to reach around 2 meters in height before harvesting at the end of September. “We calculate that in all this area it would have been possible to obtain more than a ton of marijuana ready for consumption. It is a very large facility and with a very beastly production capacity,” Mora said.
In addition, it is a facility that was once a tree nursery and is conditioned “perfectly for the crop, with irrigation from the Segrià Sud and guaranteed access to water”, added Mora. Apart from the greenhouses, those in charge of the crops had set up an area with beds and other cooking utensils.
