Drugs

Two arrested in Axarquía village after police find 209 marijuana plants

The Guardia Civil also discovered an illegal connection to the electricity grid on the farm in Arenas in the east of Malaga province

Archive image of a marijuana plantation. (SUR)

08/05/2026 a las 16:14h.

The Guardia Civil has arrested two people in connection with an illegal marijuana plantation on a farm in the village of Arenas in the Axarquía ... area of Malaga province. The two suspects were arrested on suspicion of crimes against public health and electricity fraud.

According to a statement issued by the Guardia Civil on Thursday 7 May the investigation began after officers became aware of the possible existence of an illegal marijuana crop in an isolated house in the village. The investigation determined that the suspects had occupied the property both to live there and to install the necessary infrastructure for the intensive cultivation of cannabis and its subsequent distribution.

The officers also found 1,093 grams of buds already processed and presumably prepared for sale, as well as 400 euros in cash.

During the investigation, the officers also found that the perpetrators had illegally connected to an electricity supply tower to guarantee the permanent operation of the lighting and ventilation systems used in the plantation.

The drug seized had a gross weight of 54 kilograms, according to the Guardia Civil, who also found 1,093 grams of buds already processed and prepared, presumably for sale, as well as 400 euros in cash.

A similar operation two months ago

The proliferation of indoor marijuana plantations in homes and rural estates continues to be one of the main concerns of the security forces in different parts of the Axarquía, both because of the increase in illegal connections to the electricity grid and because of the associated risks of fires and power surges. At the beginning of March, another similar operation took place, also in Arenas, with two people arrested by the Guardia Civil, who located a plantation in an isolated and illegally occupied rural house with 125 plants and 20 kilos of marijuana.

In recent years, the Guardia Civil and the National Police have intensified their actions against this type of illegal crops in inland municipalities in the Axarquía, especially in isolated rural areas where the organisations take advantage of the difficulty of access and the lower traffic of people to hide the plantations.

Investigations related to the cultivation and trafficking of marijuana have also become one of the main lines of police work across Malaga province where police forces have been warning of an increase in illegal installations fraudulently connected to the electricity supply.