The Guardia Civil have made one of the most significant drug busts in Spain in recent years, when discovering more than a 1,000 kilos of hashish in a lorry heading to the UK. As a part of the Guardia Civil’s Action Plan for the Surveillance of Communication Roads (PAVICOM), officers are charged with inspecting and intercepting narcotic substances in transit in Salamanca and Castilla y Leon.

When officers observed a suspicious refrigerated truck circulating on the La Plata highway on November 27, the decision was made to inspect the cargo. The Spanish driver claimed to be hauling oranges to Britain. However, a thorough inspection showed that hidden below pallets of oranges in the refrigerated lorry led to the discovery of a total of 1,335 kilograms of hashish.

The Guardia Civil seized the narcotics and applied the standard protocol of ‘Operation Portokall’ in an attempt to identify those responsible for the shipment. The driver of the lorry was arrested as an alleged drug trafficker and all evidence from the discovery has been made available to the Court of Instruction in Salamanca.

The seizure of 1335 kilograms of hashish ranks as the most substantial narcotics haul the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León has seen in several years.

In a fortunate ending to the case, the cargo of oranges in which the hashish was found, was sent to various non-profit associations in the province of Salamanca, to be distributed among families in need.