Nearly 600 people held on drugs charges

LAST year in the Balearics, 592 people were detained by the police for drug trafficking and 940.2 kilos of hashish, 35.8 kilos of cocaine and 12.1 kilos of heroin were confiscated. The State public prosecutor confirmed that 80 percent of the hashish impounded in Spain was seized in Andalucía, the region which also headed the list for drug trafficking crimes with 5'827 detentions. For the whole of Spain, the figure for the same violations was 17'430; 274.7 kilos of heroin, 17'616.3 kilos of cocaine and 565'808.9 kilos of hashish were confiscated. Ecstasy was not included although it is being found in increasing amounts. Of the total of the hashish seized, 453'235 were impounded in Andalucía; 51'328 kilos in Valencia and 33'281 in Murcia. These three communities had the largest hauls, in contrast to La Rioja where 9.5 kilos of hashish were found, Cantabria (25.4) and Navarra (41.7). With regard to the hauls of heroin, Madrid was top of the list with 94.3 kilos, followed by Castilla-La Mancha with 54.5 kilos, Catalonia (48.1) and Andalucia (38.4). At the opposite extreme are La Rioja and Cantabria with 25 and 89 grammes seized, respectively; and Murcia and Navarra with a little over 100 grammes.
Galicia was the community with the largest total of cocaine hauls last year with 5'044.8 kilos, followed by Madrid with 4'208.9 kilos. These two communities account for more than half of the seizures of this drug in the whole of Spain. Following on down the list comes the Canary Islands where 2'598 kilos of cocaine were found; 1'596 kilos in Andalucía and 1'350 kilos in Asturias. In contrast, cocaine hauls in La Rioja amounted to only 2.2 kilos, 3.1 kilos in Extremadura, and 5.6 kilos in Navarra. Apart from Andalucía the major part of arrests were made in Catalonia (3'034) and Madrid (1'664).