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The gang mounted a marketing system and attended international
cannabis fairs to convince victims from countries including
Spain, France and Germany to invest in the system, the Spanish
National Police said in a statement.
It led the operation with the help of Europol and forces from
Germany, France, the Dominican Republic, the United States and
the United Kingdom.
Nine suspects, who have not been named, were detained on
suspicion of fraud in Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany,
Latvia, Poland, Italy and the Dominican Republic.
"The business model offered by this organization consisted of
using the capital transferred from investors to develop
partnerships to finance the cultivation of cannabis plants,"
Silvia Garrido, Spanish police spokeswoman said.
"With this system, they promised victims profits of between 70%
and 168% per year, depending on the species of cannabis in which
they invested."
Luxury cars, hotel parties and music videos were used in an
advertising campaign to promote the scheme, police said, and
victims were taken to legal cannabis plantations which were
involved in the scam.
Police carried out raids in 2022 but did not say if any suspects
have been charged with any offences.
Police blocked bank accounts containing 58,600.00 euros and
116,300.00 euros in crypto currencies, and 106,000 euros in cash
was recovered. Properties worth 2.6 billion euros were seized.
($1 = 0.9397 euros)
(Reporting by Graham Keeley; editing by Clelia Oziel)
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