The Civil Guard has arrested four people after being caught in an industrial warehouse in Alicante packaging marijuana buds in canned tomato cans.
It all happened during a recent inspection against food fraud carried out by the Seprona of the Civil Guard in Alicante. The agents went to an industrial estate in the capital of Alicante to carry out food controls. There they decided to inspect a company supposedly dedicated to packaging canned natural peeled tomatoes, since they had observed that they transported a large quantity of product.
The agents entered the warehouse locating several employees who were allegedly working at that time. All of them were nervous when they were informed of the Civil Guard’s intention to carry out an inspection of the ship.
Once inside, the civil guards verified the existence of numerous pallets of cans with a capacity of four kilograms each, labeled as crushed natural tomato, as well as the industrial machinery necessary for packaging and handling the cans.
The agents located a large number of cans at different points in the packaging chain. When they saw its interior, instead of tomatoes they found marijuana buds, vacuum-packed in plastic bags. The authors filled the cans with sand and metal weights until they reached the weight marked on the container.
Seprona agents secured the facilities and notified the Organized Crime and Anti-Drug Team (EDOA) of the Civil Guard Judicial Police in Alicante.
In total, almost 100 kilograms of marijuana were seized. Four men have been arrested for these events, the three people who were in the warehouse and a fourth who was responsible for renting the property. They are charged with a crime against public health for drug trafficking and another for belonging to a criminal organization. After being brought to justice, he was ordered to be placed in provisional prison.
