In the province of Valencia, police carried out a major operation that led to the uncovering of an unusual drug plantation. This time, instead of an abandoned warehouse or a secluded house, the criminals chose a real fortified mansion with towers and massive walls in the small town of Moixent. Inside this building, which resembles a medieval castle, large-scale cannabis cultivation was underway.
During the search, police officers found about 60 kilograms of cannabis buds already prepared for shipment to Europe and nearly 1,500 plants at various stages of growth. As a result of the operation, ten people were detained, all of them citizens of Serbia. Among those arrested were a married couple and the father of the group’s leader, who, according to the investigation, is linked to the well-known Balkan underworld figure Darko Šarić. The father and son had previously been implicated in major drug trafficking cases in cooperation with criminal groups from Colombia and Italy.
The operation, named “Породица” (Porodica), was launched last summer. At that time, police and the anti-narcotics prosecutor’s office began tracking the movements of this group, believed to be part of the so-called Balkan cartel. This organization unites clans from Serbia, Albania, and Croatia, and is estimated to control up to half of all cocaine flows entering Europe.
For Balkan criminal groups, cultivating marijuana is not an end in itself, but a quick way to raise funds to finance larger operations, including cocaine imports. The investigation found that, in addition to the mansion in Moixent, the criminals rented a warehouse in Crevillent (Alicante province) as well as several residential properties in Campello, Bocarrat and San Ginés (Murcia), where gang members lived and also grew cannabis.
The investigation was complicated by the fact that the mansion was located in a hard-to-reach area surrounded by dense vegetation, which made surveillance difficult. In early September, another member of the group—a marijuana cultivation specialist—arrived in Spain to launch a new batch of plants. Following this, the judge issued a search warrant for all five properties linked to the organization. The operation involved GEO special forces and resulted in the arrest of all ten suspects and the seizure of a large quantity of drugs.
