A gigantic industrial farm of 415,000 cannabis plants spread over 67 ha in the open air was dismantled this week in northern Spain.
This exploitation is "the largest cannabis cultivation in Europe" ever discovered to date, according to the Civil Guard and the police of the Navarre region.
With an estimated market value of 30 million euros, these plants were intended for countries such as Switzerland or Italy, to be transformed into CBD (cannabidiol, the relaxing molecule without narcotic effect) and other derivatives.
Once processed, these hemp plants could even have reached a total value of 100 million euros on the market.
Except that in Spain, this practice is illegal.
Only the use of cannabis for industrial or pharmaceutical purposes is legal.
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In the middle of the operation, the Spanish authorities also discovered a large shed where the plants were dried before being shipped.
The operations manager, who was arrested along with two other people, initially told investigators his production was for "industrial use".
Spain is one of the leading producers of cannabis in Europe, with almost half of the plants seized in the European Union, according to the latest report from the European Monitoring Center on Drugs (EMCDDA).
More than 2.3 million cannabis plants were seized in Spain in 2021, three times more than in 2016, according to the latest figures from the Interior Ministry.
