Alex Trelinski
THREE people have been arrested for providing banned psychotropic drugs at a spiritual retreat operating out of a Pedreguer villa.
Five others are also being investigated as guests were charged an average of €1,000 per stay at the rural property.
The Guardia Civil said money invoiced last year totalled several hundred thousand euros- collected mainly in cash and undeclared to authorities.
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The operator had a large number of bank accounts in various countries to try to hide their earnings.
A previous guest complained about the group in March which advertised online as a top international spiritual retreat and claimed to have won awards for its services.
It attracted foreign clients- mainly from Europe- promising a mystical and beneficial time to improve health.
Vacation packages offered people the chance to use traditional healing medicine with ayahuasca, San Pedro cactus and Kambo toad venom.
Retreats were held in groups of up to 20 attendees, who were supervised by six employees of the company.
The operator issued a statement last week saying they did not use any illegal ceremonies in their healing ceremonies.
Two Guardia searches- one in the villa itself- yielded 11 litres of ayahuasca prepared for consumption, 117 specimens of San Pedro cactus, several bottles of Kambo Toad secretions, seven kilos of Mimosa, 368 kilograms of Harmal seeds and 945 Ritalin tablets.
The group had its own ‘rudimentary’ laboratory to prepare various concoctions in unhygienic conditions.
Charges laid down are drug trafficking, money laundering as well as membership of a criminal organisation.
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