Dog biscuits containing cannabis expose €600,000 illegal laboratory in Barcelona

Dog owners buying treats and oils for their pets would hardly expect them to lead police to an industrial cannabis laboratory. But biscuits containing cannabis derivatives, found during inspections of specialist shops in Barcelona province, helped uncover a business producing and selling thousands of products, with narcotic substances worth more than €600,000.

The Guardia Civil dismantled the laboratory in La Llagosta in an operation announced on November 12. Two people are being investigated on suspicion of drug trafficking: the company’s owner and the chemical engineer who ran the laboratory. No arrests have been reported.

Following the Crumbs

The investigation began in July 2025, when officers inspected specialist cannabis-growing shops, known as grow shops, across Barcelona province. During those checks, they found biscuits and oils for animals containing cannabidiol, or CBD, supplied by a company based in La Llagosta.

The products prompted further enquiries into their origin and the business behind them. Investigators traced the supplier to two industrial units. One was used to store goods and prepare customer orders, while the second contained production areas and laboratories where oils were extracted and cannabis resin made, weighed, labelled and packaged.

More than €600,000 in drugs seized

The scale of the operation became clear when officers searched the premises. They seized 11.5 kilos of hashish, almost seven kilos of marijuana buds and more than 133 litres of cannabis oil, packed into 17,657 bottles. Thousands of vaping products and refills were also found. Laboratory testing by the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences identified cannabis and cannabis resin, as well as psychotropic substances including hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) and H4-CBD.

The Guardia Civil said these substances are subject to controls and authorisations and cannot be sold freely as consumer products. The discovery does not make every CBD product illegal. Investigators focused on the substances identified in this case and the authorisations required to manufacture and sell them legally.  Officers also immobilised around 1,750 litres of oils intended for manufacturing, more than 705 litres of cannabis cosmetics and 416.2 kilos of plant material.

Seeds, CBD tea packaging, dog biscuits and machinery used to extract oils and make resin were among the other items secured. The estimated retail value of the substances identified as narcotics exceeds €600,000. That figure relates to the controlled substances, rather than the total value of every product and item found at the premises.

Orders were sold online

Customers placed orders through the company’s website. Once payment had been received, the logistics unit prepared and dispatched the goods. If an item was out of stock, it could be made at the company’s own laboratory. According to investigators, the owner managed the business from Thailand, while the chemical engineer oversaw the laboratory, including product formulations, composition and quality and safety checks. The company is believed to have been selling these substances since 2018.

The investigation was carried out by the Guardia Civil’s Manresa unit, with support from its Fiscal and Border Patrol and SEPRONA, the nature protection service. The case and seized materials have been placed before the Civil and Investigation Section of the Court of First Instance in Mollet del Vallès. The investigation remains ongoing.