Spanish police have hailed the takedown of a sophisticated drug operation (Picture: Reuters)
Police have seized what they claim is the biggest haul of ready-for-market cannabis ever identified in Europe.
Drug cops in Spain impounded an astonishing 32 tonnes of the plant after a raid which saw 20 people arrested.
The drugs, which were packaged and ready to be sold, would have fetched more than £55 million had they made it onto the street market.
Officers targeted a series of farms and production plants across the country in an operation called ‘Gardens’.
Nine men and 11 women aged between 20 and 59 were held and more than one millions plants were seized.
It’s believed the dried, packed products would have been sold domestically or shipped across Europe.
Authorities said the massive operation went to the heart of a complex operation with several layers and teams.
Police arrested 20 people in simultaneous raids across Spain (Picture: Reuters)
The gang were detained in Toledo, Ciudad Real, Valencia and Asturias last month but details of the operation were made only public on Saturday.
Spain’s Civil Guard said in a statement: ‘The Civil Guard has seized the largest cache of packaged marijuana found so far.
‘It was equivalent to approximately 1.1 million plants.’
Reliable statistics are hard to obtain but the raid appears to be one of the most significant in modern law enforcement history.
Spanish police seized a more valuable haul last year worth more than £80 million but it was constituted of less than half the number of plants.
Raids in North America dwarf European operations – in 2010, police seized 95 tonnes of cannabis in the Tijuana area of Mexico after a gunfight.
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More than one million plants were impounded after massive raids.