The Judicial Police, through the National Unit to Combat Drug Trafficking (UNCTE), following an investigation which started in the middle of this year, carried out an operation against drug trafficking. This resulted in the detection and dismantling of a sophisticated cannabis plantation consisting of two greenhouses located in a large warehouse in the district of Lisbon. A total of about six hundred plants were seized.

Both greenhouses were – equipped with the necessary equipment for growing, under optimal conditions, large amounts of cannabis plants. The plantations included, in particular air circulation apparatus, fans, large amounts of ballast and lamp of 600W power and corresponding power supplies, ventilation sleeves, carbon filters and fertilizers which were all seized.

During the operations four men, two of whom aged 38 and 39 years old, were arrested and presented to the competent judicial authorities for the application of appropriate enforcement measures.

According to information gathered during the investigation, the four defendants, all foreign nationals without known lawful employment, were part of an organized criminal group that used the country for cultivation of considerable amounts of cannabis leaf, which after drying was exported to several countries in northern Europe, where it was marketed.

The investigation remains the responsibility of the Judicial Police in collaboration with Europol and other European authorities.