Five detained in Kurzeme over 49.4 kg of cannabis from Spain
Latvian police and Spanish counterparts found 49.4 kg of marijuana hidden in a dried-fruit shipment meant for Latvia. Five people were detained in Kurzeme in June and August 2023, and four were remanded while investigations continued.
Latvian police, working with Spanish colleagues, said they had stopped 49
kilograms of marijuana from being brought into Latvia.[1]On 8 June, officers
and the Omega counter-terror unit detained four men in Kurzeme, born in 1978,
1980, 1984 and 1993.[1]On 8 August police detained a fifth person, born in
1984.[1]Five people were detained in all, and four of them were remanded in
custody.[1]
Police had been told that marijuana was being prepared for smuggling from Spain
to Latvia.[1]Investigators working with the Prosecutor General’s Office of
Latvia, the Spanish prosecution service and Spanish police units found 49.4 kg
of marijuana hidden in a dried-fruit shipment at a logistics warehouse, intended
for sale on the Latvian market.[1]
Criminal investigations in both Spain and Latvia were still under way when the
police account was published on 5 September 2023.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
5
Cannabis
49.4 kg
Agency type
Police, Prosecutor
Cannabis
Herbal cannabis (49.4 kg)
Activity
Smuggling
Setting
Home, Other building
Case stage
Under investigation
Route
Spain → Latvia
Sources
Rus.LSM.lvrus.lsm.lvRUПолиция в сотрудничестве с Испанией предотвратила ввоз в Латвию 49 кг марихуаны
Open questions the AI reported
The warehouse where the 49.4 kg was found is not located, and no date is given for the discovery itself.
The headline rounds the seizure to 49 kg; the body, which this report uses, says 49.4 kg.
Four of the five people were remanded, but no names, charges or later court outcome are given.
Only this Rus.LSM.lv account could be opened; a separate police statement was not found.
The photograph on the page is captioned as an illustrative picture and is not of this seizure.
Latvia's Economic Affairs Court will continue hearing witnesses on 4 December in the trial of nine people, among them Jurijs Spiridonovs, accused of producing marijuana in indoor plantations in Spain and selling it in Latvia and Norway. Prosecutors say the group, active from 2020 to autumn 2024, laundered its earnings through bank accounts and property in Riga; four defendants remain in custody.
Latvian police detained six members of a Latvian-Lithuanian group that hid drugs in barrels buried in forests near Riga, with two more members directing activity from prison. Officers found about 36 kg of mixed drugs including marijuana and hashish plus 34 THC devices, and a court remanded five suspects in custody.
Latvian police arrested six people in an organised dealing group between 14 and 17 September 2026 in Rīga’s Ķengaraga district and Ādaži, seizing about 2 kilograms of cannabis along with cocaine, amphetamine and other drugs after eleven searches; three suspects were remanded in custody.
On 17 and 18 March 2026 Latvian police arrested four people in Rīga who they say ran a large-scale marijuana and hashish trade, using hideouts and a 2009-born teenager as a courier; searches seized 9 kilograms of marijuana, 50 grams of hashish, €11,671 and three cars.
