Police arrest three men suspected of mailing opium poppies to Spain and the US

Three men were arrested in Spain last month for allegedly mailing dried poppy capsules throughout Spain and the United States.

The Spanish Civil Guard said Saturday that the three men were arrested in January and have remained in custody since then. They were charged with crimes against public health for drug trafficking.

According to police, the investigation began last September after four postal shipments containing almost 15.4 pounds of plant-based substances were intercepted at the Miguel Hernández airport in Alicante-Elche.

The analyzes determined that the substance was “Papaver somniferum”, also known as opium poppy, a plant directly linked to the production of opium and its derivatives, the statement said.

The researchers observed that the same last name was used in all shipments, for both senders and recipients. It was also found that all the packages had been sent from different addresses, located in the municipality of Los Alcázares, in the region of Murcia.

The operation led to the identification of three men from the same clan, all born in India, who were arrested and a cache of around 1,161 pounds of Papaver somniferum was seized.

After consulting police databases, investigators verified that the three men had been linked to recent poppy thefts in legal plantations intended for pharmaceutical use and located in the province of Albacete.

“In Spain there are legal crops of this plant intended for pharmaceutical use,” says Civil Guard spokesperson, Álvaro Gallardo. “But there are many people who extract opium completely illegally for consumption or trafficking, something dangerous if done without control, since it is a narcotic substance.”

The three detainees were placed at the disposal of the investigative court of the judicial district of Elche, which ordered their imprisonment.