11 arrested for killing the watchman of a hemp plantation in Zaragoza

The Civil Guard has arrested 11 people involved in the murder of a guard at a hemp plantation in Pleitas (Zaragoza).

The 45-year-old victim died after being shot with a firearm on the plantation where the authors intended to enter to steal, according to a note released this Saturday by the Ministry of the Interior.

The investigation, which has been carried out in two phases, began last October, when a citizen located the lifeless body of a person inside a vehicle, in an area near an industrial hemp plantation in Pleitas.

After analyzing the evidence found in the area, the investigators were able to determine that the night the events occurred, several people had moved to that place with two vehicles in order to remove the dry hemp from the facility.

In the presence of the security guard around the plantation, they fled the scene, leaving the vehicles and various effects inside, but they remained nearby to be able to recover them once the area was left unguarded.

When they returned to retrieve their belongings, they found that one of the vans was disabled and their mobile phones were not inside.

With the intention of recovering them and avoiding being discovered, they traveled with a second vehicle to the warehouse area, where they were surprised by the security guard, who notified the owner of the facility through a mobile message.

At that time, the victim was shot and killed.

His body was located the next morning by a neighbor who was riding a bicycle in the area.

After killing the guard, the alleged perpetrators of the crime notified other acquaintances to go to Pleitas and help them flee the scene.

In addition, the suspects in the homicide, owners of the two vehicles used in the attempted robbery of the plantation, later denounced that they had been stolen in order to try to disassociate themselves from the events.

One of the vans was found next to the facility, but the other vehicle was found burned the next day in the town of Épila.

The Civil Guard has carried out three searches at the homes of the main suspects, all of them located in Zaragoza, in which several mobile phones, a police defense, a katana and various firearms, money and drugs have been seized.

Agents from the Reserve and Security Group no.

5, based in Casetas, Criminalistics Laboratory of Zaragoza, Cinological Service of Zaragoza and Madrid with dogs specialized in searching for drugs, money and weapons, as well as agents of the Citizen Security Unit of Command (USECIC) and the territorial company of the Civil Guard of Tarazona.