The Ministry of the Interior has launched a National Action Plan against Crime Associated with the Production and Trafficking of Marijuana, the objective of which is to promote a joint response by the State Security Forces and Bodies, enhance coordination and cooperation between them, and increase its effectiveness throughout the national territory to reduce the level of threat posed by the illegal cultivation and trafficking of the cannabis plant and its derived products.
The definitive impulse to said action plan took place this Tuesday at a meeting chaired by Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who was accompanied by the Secretary of State for Security, Rafael Pérez; the general director of Coordination and Studies, José Antonio Rodríguez, and the director of the Intelligence Centre against Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO), Manuel Navarrete.
The meeting was also attended by the General Commissioner of the Judicial Police of the National Police, the General Chief of the Judicial Police of the Guardia Civil, the Deputy Chief of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Commissioner for Foreign Cooperation of the Ertzaintza and the head of the Criminal Investigation area of the Foral Police of Navarra, as well as the Deputy Director General of Operations of the Deputy Directorate of Customs Surveillance and the Special Anti-Drug Prosecutor.
All these State Security Forces and Corps, as well as Customs Surveillance and the Prosecutor’s Office, have participated in the preparation of the action plan under the coordination of CITCO, whose experts have been in charge of the final design of it.
The National Strategy against Organised Crime and Serious Crime 2019-2023, approved by the National Security Council on February 21, 2019, makes specific mention of the progression that the cultivation and trafficking of marijuana in Spain has suffered in recent years , and that is the frame of reference for the development of this operational plan of action in the matter.
GROWING THREAT
In recent years, the State Security Forces and Bodies have detected a notable increase in the cultivation and trafficking of marijuana in Spain. The cultivation of the cannabis plant is carried out both in small closed spaces, as well as in large outdoor plantations.
The seizures carried out in recent years in Spain show the enormous growth experienced both in the number of plants and in the number of kilograms of marijuana seized. Since 2015, seizures of marijuana and cannabis plants in Spain have experienced increases of between 150 and 305 percent, especially from 2019.
This growth shows that Spain has become a country that produces marijuana and cannabis derivatives, which is already one of the main criminal activities behind the trafficking of hashish and cocaine.
In the cultivation of cannabis and the trafficking of marijuana, real transnational organizations already operate with a powerful polycriminal activity and provided with great logistics and mobility.
Its action is generating an increase in intra-criminal violence and towards the Security Forces, as well as the appearance of associated crimes such as trafficking or the promotion of irregular immigration for the labor exploitation of the victims in the cultivation plantations, where they are subjected to inhumane working conditions.
CITCO considers that the threat posed by this criminal phenomenon is at high evaluation parameters, and has already required the development of other strategic plans, such as the Special Security Plan in Campo de Gibraltar, which is proving its effectiveness.
JOINT RESPONSE
In order to reduce the level of threat associated with this criminal activity, the National Action Plan against Crime Associated with the Production and Trafficking of Marijuana aims to promote a joint response from all State Security Forces and Bodies, strengthening the coordination and cooperation between them, as well as the Anti-Drug Prosecutor’s Office and the Deputy Directorate of Customs Surveillance.
The plan revolves around a main strategic objective, to reduce the level of threat associated with the cultivation and trafficking of marijuana, by designing ten measures articulated around three specific objectives: increasing the detection and dismantling of organized crime groups dedicated to these criminal activities; reduce the distribution channels of marijuana, and favor the destruction of plantations as well as the disablement and / or destruction of the means used for cultivation.
The plan will be valid for one year, without prejudice to revision if necessary, and will be coordinated by CITCO.