Agents of the Guardia Civil’s Nature Protection Service (SEPRONA) in San Mateo, Gran Canaria, have arrested a person of Spanish nationality as alleged perpetrator of an offence against public health, denouncing him for weapons and contraband infractions.
An investigation was initiated after a citizen informed the Civil Guard of the existence of a farm with a large number of marijuana plants in the La Mina ravine in the municipality of Vega de San Mateo, in the north eastern mountains.
The Civil Guard investigations resulted in the location of a plot -in the aforementioned ravine- in which the person later detained had established his habitual residence; this site was composed of a series of facilities, where apart from having a small home, there were animal cages as well as an installation that could be used for the cultivation of marijuana.
The person residing there was already known to police for prior drug consumption related infractions and a police record having been previously arrested for assault against authority and public officials, and the crime of drug trafficking.
The SEPRONA agents, accompanied by a Judicial Officer of the Court and personnel from the electric power company, gained entry to the plot, finding that the detainee had been cultivating the plants, both indoors and outdoors, which were in different phases of growth, as well as a facility made with metal structure, covered with black canvas to facilitate concealment and minimize characteristic odors of the said crop, connected with a rudimentary electrical installation that fed the plantation with power.
As a result of the police search a total of 73 marijuana plants of various sizes, 23 grams of hashish, 1 gram of cocaine, 104 grams of marijuana stings and buds, 858 grams of cutting substance, 73 grams of cannabis seed were seized along with 1 precision domestic scales, a replica fire arm, actually a compressed air pistol, an air rifle with telescopic sight, various effects for making and cutting narcotic substances (knife and board), as well as a Black-tufted marmoset, a primate of the species Callithrix penicillata.
The two seized weapons have been deposited at the Firearms and Explosives Intervention department of the Civil Guard, and the primate has been transferred to the Cocodrilo Park wildlife centre in Aguimes, as it is included in Annex B of the Convention on International Trade in Species as threatened wild fauna and flora, Regulation, since the detainee does not have the administrative documentation for its possession, and these seized effects have been made available to the Judicial Authorities.
Personnel from the electric power company are checking whether the plot has a legal power supply , since another potential offence, defrauding electric supply for use in the cultivation of marijuana, may have been committed by the detainee.
