Spain fights hashish gangs

A authorities officer cuts cannabis plants in the cellar of a home throughout a raid in Mataro, near Barcelona, on April27 (Photo: Reuters) BARCELONA: Heavily equipped cops officers gothere in a well-to-do Barcelona residentialarea priorto dawn to raid a two-storey home that turned out to be jam-packed with 800 cannabis plants growing under effective lights. The current raid, on which Reuters accompanied the officers as they jailed 2 Albanian nationals, is part of an nearly daily cops regimen in the Spanish area of Catalonia as it fractures down on the thriving prohibited production of cannabis, frequently run by regional and worldwide drug gangs. With a number of nations, generally in the Americas, legalising or managing cannabis usage in current years, Spain being lawfully liberal with individual usage and Barcelona itself hosting Europe’s biggest cannabis-themed reasonable, such a clampdown might appear counterproductive. But authorities argue that the arranged criminalactivity that hasactually grown around the cannabis service is making parts of the area a unsafe location and requires to be dealt with to avoid gangs from entrenching evenmore. They state they are not usually targeting small growers or users, who regular so-called marijuana clubs that delightin legal loopholes, however drug rings driven by success that export most of the marijuana abroad. “When it’s a company that creates so much cash, wrongdoer organisations focus on coming here,” stated Antoni Salleras, chief of the arranged criminaloffense system of the Catalan authorities, keepinginmind that immigrants, mainly from inotherplaces in Europe, Morocco and Latin America, accounted for around 60% of arrests last year. ‘Elevated level of violence’ Some genuine estate or transportation services now work nearly specifically for manufacturers, while there is an “elevated level of violence” inbetween drug rings to safeguard plantations, triggering a “worrying” boost in unlawful guns belongings, Salleras stated. Last year, Catalan authorities took 26 tonnes of cannabis buds, 3 times more than in 2021, and jailed 2,130 individuals in what has emerged as one of Europe?
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