Expresso has reported that the National Unit for Combating Drug Trafficking of the Judiciary Police (PJ) carried out searches in medical cannabis plantations in several parts of the country, including the island of Madeira.
The same media outlet reports that 64 searches have already been carried out in cannabis plantations on suspicion of international drug trafficking. There have already been several arrests of suspected members of a criminal group dedicated to the introduction of “large quantities of cannabis in various European and African markets.”
It also explains why six search warrants were served in Spain, one in Bulgaria, and one in Cyprus.
Operation ‘Erva Daninha’ comprises 300 inspectors, 48 experts, and 24 security guards from the Judiciary Police, six magistrates from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and three judges.
According to CNN Portugal, the company Terra Verde was in 2014 the first authorised medicinal cannabis plantation in Portugal.
The license put Portugal at the top of world cannabis exports, but the business was sold, and, according to CNN, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the PJ’s National Unit for Combating Drug Trafficking believe it is being used as a cover-up.  Under the façade of medicinal purposes, in an area with strict export and sale rules, the current managers of the company are suspected of trafficking hashish on a large scale, for illegal consumption and not for medicinal purposes, reports CNN.
The Judicial Police has confirmed that several individuals have been arrested.
Later this afternoon, the PJ confirmed that searches focused on a company from which documentation allegedly related to the scheme was seized.
The investigation began in early 2022, within the framework of international police cooperation and in close collaboration and articulation with the police and judicial authorities of Spain – National Police, after a total of 1,200 kilograms of amphetamines (3-CMC and 3-MMC) were seized in the first phase.
The investigations revealed that the criminal organisation in question, knowing the flaws and vulnerabilities of the medical cannabis export inspection and control system in Portugal, acquired pharmaceutical companies, then created licensed commercial companies for the wholesale, import and export of medical cannabis, ending up, in reality, sending several thousand kilos of cannabis to illicit markets using false documentation and certificates.
In view of the evidence collected, and in conjunction with the DCIAP of Lisbon, which titles the investigation, several investigative steps were carried out, in national territory and in several European countries, to collect evidence to put an end to the illegal activity that the suspects had been developing over the last few months.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
