Spain’s National Police have detained four men in Cartagena on suspicion of drug trafficking and electricity fraud linked to several marijuana plantations uncovered in ongoing investigations. They say almost nine hundred plants were found at various growth stages. The inquiries, prompted by residents’ complaints about the impact of the plantations on neighbours, led officers to multiple properties used for cultivating these illicit crops.

Searches at two properties in the port city resulted in the arrests, with more than three hundred plants seized in the final growth stage. After drying, the buds would be circulated on the illicit market. Officers also recovered two thousand six hundred euros in cash and the equipment used for indoor cultivation.

The largest plantation, comprising five hundred plants, was located on 5 November inside an industrial warehouse, discovered after a fire caused by a faulty electrical installation. Cartagena’s Fire Service attended promptly and, thanks to swift action, extinguished the blaze and prevented it from spreading to neighbouring units. The four men have been handed to the judicial authorities as suspects in drug trafficking and electricity fraud, with investigations ongoing to determine possible involvement of others. The National Police emphasises that citizen cooperation is vital in tackling such crimes, noting harms such as strong odours, fire risks from fraudulent connections to the grid, power cuts, noise from electrical equipment, and the social alarm caused by drug activity.