The Mossos d'Esquadra have dismantled several marijuana narcobunkers in recent months in municipalities such as Alella, Montmeló, and Torrelles de Foix, an expansion that no longer only affects warehouses or apartments, but also basements of homes and hidden constructions in housing developments. Behind these facilities are setups that can approach one million euros, with water, lighting, ventilation systems, and fraudulent connections to the electrical grid.
The paradox is that reinforcing the grid is not stopping the problem. In some areas, the available power can be five times the legally contracted amount and ends up powering new plantations, while the consumption of a single indoor installation is equivalent to that of 80 homes and causes power outages in the surrounding areas.
The Mossos located plantations in Alella, Montmeló, and Torrelles de Foix
In February, the Catalan police dismantled a 50-square-meter construction with 1,080 marijuana plants in Alella, in Maresme. In that operation, four men and one woman were arrested.
At the end of April, agents arrested a 72-year-old man in Montmeló, in Vallès Oriental, for cultivating 1,430 plants and storing 26 kilos of processed marijuana in the basement of his home.
On May 7, the investigation led the Mossos d'Esquadra to the Can Coral housing development, in Torrelles de Foix, in l'Alt Penedès. There they found 1,850 plants in a 400-square-meter bunker and attribute an electrical fraud of 73,000 euros to the detainee.
Xarxes d'Endesa estimates 10,600 disconnected plantations in five years
The impact is not limited to criminal activity. The high electricity consumption of these plantations disrupts the supply in housing developments and neighborhoods, as each indoor crop demands a power similar to that of dozens of regularly connected homes.
In the last five years, Xarxes d'Endesa has dismantled the electrical installation of approximately 10,600 marijuana plantations in commercial premises. This figure represents 26% of the total energy theft accounted for by the company, which identifies the problem as particularly prevalent in several areas of Catalonia and Andalusia.
Furthermore, in 2025 alone, around 1,850 indoor cannabis cultivation facilities were dismantled throughout Spain, with a recovery of 182.7 million kWh of energy. The volume indicates the scale of illegal connections that require intervention alongside police forces.
Removing those splices has also increased the risk for the teams working on the ground. Last year there were 58 assaults on technicians who accompany the police in these actions, compared to around a hundred accumulated in the previous three years.