The Mossos d’Esquadra have made 18 arrests and 21 searches in an operation against organized crime
The Catalan police have launched an operation against several interconnected criminal groups that operated in Catalonia and that were dedicated to the cultivation and trafficking of marijuana and hashish on a large scale, both nationally and internationally. As part of the investigation, which has been called the Magenta case, 18 people linked to the different groups have been arrested, accused of drug trafficking, membership of a criminal organization and defrauding of electric fluid. In addition, 21 searches have been carried out in the metropolitan region of Barcelona, where around 500 kilos of drugs have been seized. The main group distributed the drug to other smaller groups who sold it at retail.
The operation stems from a joint investigation with the Italian police and Europol
The operation is the result of a joint investigation with the Guarda di Finanza Italiana, a device in Catalonia and Italy, coordinated by Europol, which has ended with 78 detainees related to Italian organized crime in an investigation led in Catalonia by a court of Badalona and in Italy by the Milan Anti-Mafia Prosecutor’s Office. In mid-2023, investigators located a criminal group that allegedly used industrial buildings in Catalonia as drug warehouses. Those under investigation would receive trucks and tractors from Morocco that allegedly transported hidden consignments of drugs, which, once unloaded, were transferred to other places, where the drugs were accumulated and from where they were subsequently distributed, both in national territory , as abroad.
The Mossos d’Esquadra intervened 391 kilos of hashish hidden in tractors from Morocco
From that moment, and under the tutelage of the court of inquiry number 4 of Badalona and the prosecutor’s office of the same locality, the advances in the investigation made it possible to detect the arrival of Moroccan trucks at the investigated industrial buildings. The investigators carried out a police device that concluded with the confiscation of a shipment of 391 kilos of hashish hidden in tractors from Morocco. As a result of this police action, the investigators managed to identify the people who were allegedly involved and what roles they played, as well as the cultivation and storage points of marijuana and hashish.
Result of the operation
Once the activity and roles of the people under investigation had been verified, on February 20 the police operation of the case was carried out in the towns of Barcelona, Terrassa, Ripollet (Vallès Occidental), Badalona, Sant Adrià de Besos (Barcelonès), Premià de Dalt (Maresme), Vallgorguina (Vallès Oriental), Sant Just Desvern, Sant Esteve Sesrovires (Baix Llobregat) and Beguda Alta, in Masquefa (Anoia). One of the plantations located in the Mossos d’Esquadra operation in the Metropolitan Region. Photo: Mossos Esquadra As a result of the operation, in which around 200 officers have participated, a total of six marijuana cultivation centers have been dismantled, and approximately 4,000 marijuana plants in different states have been intervened of growth, 20 kilos of marijuana in buds, 31 kilos of hashish, 61 kilos of hashish pollen, a detonator gun, one with compressed air, about 20 cartridges of different calibers, various weapons and 53,185 euros in cash money
