Crimes against collective security

The Supreme Court (TS) has confirmed the conviction of several individuals who operated in Almería regarding indoor marijuana plantations . The basic idea of the case is simple; it was not about a single house with some plants, but about multiple locations and a coordinated effort to cultivate, prepare, and distribute cannabis, and to maintain those plantations with a very high electricity consumption obtained through illegal connections to the grid. With that modus operandi the entire activity was sustained: indoor cultivation, fraudulent electrical infrastructure, and task distribution within the group.

The convicted appealed, but the TS dismisses the appeals and upholds the sentence. It confirms three criminal blocks :

- the crime against public health (for the cultivation and trafficking of cannabis);

- the continued fraud of electrical fluid (for the illegal connections and associated consumption); and

- membership in a criminal group.

The TS supports that, when there is a joint and sustained action , the seized drug can be attributed jointly to the members, because it is not considered that each one carries “their separate project,” but rather they are part of a same criminal enterprise shared.

It also accepts a prudent estimate of the defrauded electricity consumption based on technical criteria, even if there is no perfect direct measurement of everything consumed.

And clarifies that talking about “ criminal group ” is not the same as saying “they did something together,” here it appreciates a stable union of several people to commit crimes in a coordinated manner, with a criminal purpose that is not exhausted in an isolated act.

Our lawyers guarantee the defense of your rights in actions derived from facts that could constitute a crime.