Spanish police announced the seizure of six underwater submarines, capable of transporting large quantities of drugs, from the Kingdom of Morocco to Spain, and the dismantling of a gang suspected of making them.
The media quoted a statement by the Spanish police, on Monday, confirming that it is the first time that submarines have been confiscated “that can carry large quantities of drugs” from Morocco to Spain, noting that they believe that these submarines are being used by other criminal organizations.
Eight people were also arrested in raids carried out in Barcelona and the provinces of Malaga and Cadiz in southern Spain.
“These devices can allow drug smugglers to remotely transport large quantities of drugs through the Strait of Gibraltar,” the Spanish police said in a statement, knowing that each one of them is equipped with up to 12 engines with a range of up to 30 kilometers.
The police highlighted in this regard, that “it is easily enough to manage underwater crossings of the Strait of Gibraltar, which separates Spain from Morocco, and extends for only 15 kilometers.”
Morocco is the largest producer of hashish in the world, as the name of the Kingdom of Morocco appears in various reports on the cultivation, manufacture and promotion of drugs around the world, as its first source.
In the 2021 report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, it was stated that Morocco is the largest exporter of processed cannabis in the world, and the sixth largest exporter of cannabis (unprocessed) in the world, noting that the areas planted with cannabis in Morocco reached 21 thousand hectares in 2019.
It is worth noting that Morocco is one of the societies that is the most affected by the spread of drug addiction among young people, which has reached educational institutions in a frightening manner, as revealed by the recent report of the Moroccan Economic, Social and Environmental Council.
Last May, the Moroccan House of Representatives (the first chamber of parliament) approved a bill to legalize the use of “Indian hemp”, despite the great controversy that the project raised in political and popular circles and on social media.
Opponents of the bill warned of the impact of legalizing the cultivation of “Indian hemp” on increasing the areas of drug cultivation and exacerbating the phenomenon of trafficking within the country.
The cultivation of “Indian hemp” is widespread in Morocco, especially in the northern regions of the country.
On the subject, the French monthly magazine “Geo” quoted geographers and researchers that “the Moroccan authorities turn a blind eye to the cultivation of hemp in the mountains of northern Morocco, where this plant is grown in a family environment and grows like a weed.”
