The recent raid, on which Reuters accompanied the officers as they arrested two Albanian nationals, is part of an almost daily police routine in the Spanish region of Catalonia as it cracks down on the booming illegal production of marijuana, often run by local and international drug gangs.
"When it's a business that generates so much money, criminal organisations focus on coming here," said Antoni Salleras, chief of the Catalan police's organised crime unit, noting that foreigners, predominantly from elsewhere in Europe, Morocco and Latin America, accounted for around 60% of arrests last year.
Worth around 156 million euros in Catalonia, where a gram of marijuana costs up to six euros, that weight would be sold elsewhere in Europe at two to four times the price, police said. Cannabis – the term used for all products derived from the plant - is Europe's most commonly consumed drug and the one most linked to breaches of drug laws across the bloc, the EMCDDA said. Seizures reached the highest level in a decade in 2021, with Spain representing 66% of the total.
Their model, however, faces uncertainty as the new Barcelona mayor's top security official said in March he wanted to ban cannabis clubs.Catalonia used to be a transit area for marijuana until production started around eight years ago and has soared since, said the police chief. It is now Spain's top producing region, with most exports channelled by road to France.
Buying seeds is tolerated under the premise that it is for collection purposes, while cannabis clubs are permitted by the constitutional right to association and the lack of a widespread judicial doctrine, although carrying marijuana is illegal.