The south of Spain is the nerve center of the hashish traffickers in Europe
“A stash of 20 million dollars appears on a beach next to Gibraltar. Police found the 80 perfectly wrapped bales of the resin, weighing three tons, on a little beach after a boat got into problem due to bad weather”
Eighty tightly-wrapped bales of the resin, weighing three tons, ended up on an isolated stretch after a boat got into trouble in bad weather.
Three people were rescued from the water following a distress call.
As well as the cannabis, a 36ft high-speed inflatable dinghy was found on Camp Bay in Gibraltar with extra fuel canisters and food.
Officers immediately sealed off the area to prevent looting.
Detectives believe the men in the boat are part of the same gang who used drones to avoid police operations and make sure the coast was clear before dropping off the drugs.”
Gibraltar and its surrounding towns has become the cradle of the most important hash dealers in Europe. This information is real and occurred few days ago. Similar words are frequently published in the event section of any Spanish or British newspaper. In fact, this information was published by The Sun, an important British tabloid. But it happens every day in the south of Spain. Spaniards can constantly watch this type of TV news. The scene seems surrealistic.
Try to imagine a group of police officers surrounded by dozens of angry young men. Police are trying to keep a stash of tons of hash. The cops try to keep the bales while they wait for reinforcements. The young men are shouting at them and throwing stones. These fellows want a piece of the cake; something that allows them to get something out of money in an area where unemployment rate is the highest of Spain. In some small towns the youth unemployment rate reaches 80%. And the unemployment lasts years and years. What hopes do these young people have? In addition, now people over 50 are already involved. Unemployment punishes everyone equally.
On a sunny day you can see the beaches of Morocco from southern Spain. It is very near! Morocco is the largest producer of hashish in the world. The temptation is enormous for thousands of young men who see how their politicians ignore their problems. They are fiercely decided to survive in the middle of an economic crisis. Whenever a stash of hash appears on the beach, a race between the people and the police begins. If people reach the stash before the police, it disappears within minutes. But if the police get there before, then a real battle starts.
The kid
The kid is the nickname of a famous trafficker in the area who, in his early twenties, had become a hero for the unemployed and a nightmare for the Spanish police. At just 17 years old, he and his friends used to travel the 17 kilometers that separated them from the beaches of Morocco, aboard their jet skis. Already in Morocco, they bought their own hashish, and something else to sell. He knew perfectly the tides and the reefs, as well as every corner of each beach on both sides of the sea.
The kid had all the attributes to become a leader and a legend. He was handsome and shared some of his money to help his friends, family and many neighbors in bad economic situation. In fact, the police never got anyone to give him away. People considered him a Robin Hood of cannabis.
His “modus operandi” was always the same. In a short time, he changed the water bikes by a high-speed inflatable dinghy. In broad daylight, he covered his face with a bandana, like Billy the kid used to do, and put on the hood of his sweatshirt. When eventually a police helicopter discovered him, the pilot tried to destabilize him to overturn his boat or water motorcycle. But the kid had nerves of steel and was also an excellent driver. They never managed to make him overturn and he scoffed, showing the pilot of the helicopter his ring finger.
Of course, he knew all the hashish vendors in Morocco and all the buyers in Spain. Over time, arresting the kid became a matter of professional pride for the police. They could not stand that such a young boy escaped them a thousand times. In fact, they were never able to catch him in crime. The legend was born.
Although they never caught him in the middle of the crime, the police recorded from the helicopter every chase. In one of them, a blow of wind moved his bandana and his face was perfectly recorded by the helicopter’s camera. Finally he was arrested.
The child was already a legend, to the point that a major TV network made a series of great success on his adventures.
The kid was arrested, but there are hundreds of new kids to replace him. What politicians can demand from the citizens whose lives sink because of the unemployment? However, no government in a serious country can allow many kids, because the country would become a narco-state. You do not have to be a genius of the economy to realize that the best way to end cannabis trafficking is to legalize the herb.
Cannabis has always been illegal in Spain. But 40 years ago, the police was very tolerant about it. You could smoke a joint near to the cops and they usually did nothing about it. But now the situation has drastically changed. Instead of going towards a more tolerant attitude, policemen search for cannabis users to fine them.
It is not a question of public health at all. It is simply a question of the ferocious desire of the different governments to obtain extra money from their citizens. If, for example, you are stopped and they find a tiny piece of hash in your pockets, be ready to be fined with 750 Euros. I don’t say they catch you while you are publicly smoking; they only need to look in your pockets without any logical reason and find something. Sometimes, they check a homeless they see hanging around. It is common finding something to smoke to help them overcome their sad way of living. Usually they only can afford paying the cheapest alcohol, but eventually the can get something to smoke.
The media only shows the darkest side of cannabis: unscrupulous traffickers who steal light for their indoor crops, organized gangs from eastern countries and cases of drivers causing accidents under the influence of cannabis, teenagers who gather to drink alcohol and smoke marijuana and so on. Eventually, a politician appears who speaks in favor of legalization.
The situation is so absurd that is almost impossible to believe. Giving a fine to a homeless for a small piece of cannabis! You may think it is not a big trouble for the homeless because he simply has no resources to pay the fine. But the reality is quite different. Apart from having the highest fines in the entire European Union, and not only in matters of drugs, unpaid fines generate astronomical figures in interest for delay.
If one day the homeless overcomes his/her situation and gets a job, it will be very difficult for him/her to pay the total debt accumulated against the state. The homeless will be pushed towards social exclusion because of the usurer system of the state. Try to imagine how complicate a life can become for carrying the smallest piece of cannabis you can figure out.
Spain is, along with France, the largest country in Europe. Of more than half a million square kilometers of its geography, more than half of its land has the best environmental conditions of cannabis cultivation. During the outdoor growing season, the days are sunny and warm and the nights are somewhat cold. In other words: it has the best conditions to grow cannabis and obtain the best weed. If we add to this fact the very high unemployment rate, prohibition becomes impossible to understand.
Spain could easily become the largest cannabis farm in Europe. On top of it, with its weather, Spain is full of excellent outdoors growers. It is full of fantastic indoors growers too. But having such a good climate, Spain could provide Europe with the best and cheapest marijuana on the market. How far are those days when Amsterdam marijuana was better than Spanish!
The legalization of cannabis would be an excellent way to combat unemployment and an important boost for the economy of the country and its citizens. The professionals of the sector are prepared. What do politicians expect? Meanwhile, new kids appear every day and Gibraltar and its surroundings continue to be the center of hashish trafficking in Europe.
