AN ORGANISED cannabis-dealing racket played classical music to their plants to help them grow, according to police in the south of the province of Alicante.
Five men of Swedish, German and Spanish nationality, aged between 35 and 55, have been arrested in the towns of Elche, San Miguel de Salinas and Almoradí after huge plantations in rented homes and warehouses were uncovered.
At least 2,000 shrubs were growing in the multiple properties the suspects rented – at a total cost of €3,000 a month – and 33 kilos of hash already bagged up for sale were seized.
Classical music was played 24 hours a day to the plants on a non-stop automatic loop, in a bid to help them grow more quickly and produce a better-quality crop.
Police say the street value of the existing drugs and of the total substance the plants would have yielded was about €80,000 per crop, and the gang planted and harvested four crops a year.
Another 10 grams of cocaine was confiscated, along with €11,000 in cash, four top-of-the-range cars and two valuable motorbikes.
The ringleader, a Swede who lives in a million-euro luxury villa in Elche, is said to be wanted for previous offences relating to drug-dealing and money-laundering.
