Five Civil Guard agents have been injured to varying degrees after being fired upon in a chalet they were going to search in El Moralet, a district of Alicante with some 2,400 inhabitants, in the course of the so-called Operation Sarpa against cultivation, possession and marijuana trafficking, according to sources from the armed institute.
A man who had barricaded himself in the house opened fire with a slug-gun at the approaching officers, four of whom sustained projectile or shrapnel injuries, while a fifth guard suffered injuries as a result of a fall.
The arrival of reinforcements allowed the shooter to be reduced, who was wounded in the shoulder.
A total of six people have been arrested in this operation.
The shots began at seven in the morning, when the house was surrounded by civil guards to proceed with its search.
The agents knew that the house, surrounded by a stone and brick wall, was inhabited by a man and his father.
When they proceeded to enter the home, shouting "Civil Guard", the father was the one who opened fire using a shotgun and four agents of the citizen security units (Usecic) were injured: one by a direct hit to the arm and the another three due to splinters in one hand and in the face, respectively, always according to Civil Guard sources.
There were "numerous shots", according to a note provided this morning by the armed institute.
The members of the Usecic fired shots with their regulation weapons to repel the aggression at the time of entering the house.
Subsequently, the author of the shotgun fire and a woman, who were both inside the building, left voluntarily and were arrested.
Special units of the armed institute reinforced their comrades before this outcome.
The agents injured in the anti-drug operation have been evacuated to a hospital, without endangering the lives of any of them, according to the aforementioned Civil Guard sources.
The area remains cordoned off by agents of the armed institute and also of the local police.
The place where the events occurred is a single-family house with two floors, about 80 square meters in area, which has several annexes, located on a plot of about 2,000 square meters, located in a rural area on the outskirts of Alicante capital.
The door of the house shows the direct impact of a shot from slugs, right in the area of the lock, which the agents were already manipulating when they received the first volley.
The agents found several more long weapons inside the house.
The operation had begun last Wednesday, after a drug shipment by parcel from Alicante to Ireland was located.
The shipment was opened at a parcel company, where the agents saw that it was carrying 3.5 kilos of pressed and vacuum-packed marijuana.
The investigations also made it possible to locate other targets to search: one in Torrellano, another in San Vicente del Raspeig, and another two in the Partida de El Moralet in Alicante.
The Civil Guard of San Vicente continues at this time with the entries and searches provided for in the four addresses.
In Torrellano, the agents have seized various amounts of cocaine, buds and marijuana plants.