The Guardia Civil has discovered in an industrial unit in Manilva a clandestine laboratory where cosmetic and food products derived from cannabis with a high CBD content were being manufactured. CBD is a substance with therapeutic properties but also psychoactive ones. The person in charge of the laboratory has been arrested and remanded in custody for a drug trafficking offence.
The operation began when officers from the Judicial Police Unit of the Guardia Civil in Algeciras (Cádiz) learned of the existence of a unit that could be devoted to the illegal production of hemp products, according to a statement from the armed force.
After confirming their suspicions, the officers carried out a joint inspection with Public Health staff from the Junta de Andalucía and found that inside the unit there was a laboratory equipped for the processing and manufacture of all kinds of cannabis products, as well as a warehouse with a large quantity of goods ready for sale.
In the search of the unit, four tonnes of shredded cannabis, several litres of hashish oil and kilos of marijuana buds were seized, which were used as raw material for processing. Numerous finished products, labelled and packaged, were also found, such as sweets, herbal teas, oils, vape liquid and creams, all of them with a high CBD content.
Following analysis of the samples, it was confirmed that some of the products also contained a high percentage of THC, the active ingredient of the cannabis plant that produces psychoactive effects and whose presence at a concentration above 0.2% in any substance is considered illegal.
It was also established that the person in charge of the laboratory did not meet the legal requirements for the processing, manufacture and sale of the products found there. As a result, the Junta de Andalucía’s Public Health report concluded that there was a high health risk.
Over these events, the Guardia Civil arrested the person in charge of the laboratory and brought him before the judicial authority, which ordered his remand in custody for a drug trafficking offence.
