After the Sierra de Lújar got smoked in a forest fire last year, you would think that any vegetation to appear would be welcome… however, marijuana is an exception.

Yes, a shepherd is feeling sheepish after the Guardia Civil, whilst frolocking through the sierra stumbled upon his 5,160 marijuana plants in the Barranco del Hornillo.

Now the said shepherd is a 57-year-old resident of Castell de Ferro who just happens to have a generous criminal record, to which will soon be added his illegal plantation and the illegal possession of a firearm – he had a 12-bore shotgun hidden in a sack; one that had been stolen in Madrid in 1988… Ouch!

Now, the police knew that he was growing wicked weed but they didn’t know where, and his being a shepherd… well that’s a lot of ground to cover. But the Guardia are not known for being reluctant, so with a good deal of tip-toing in the wake of our green-fingered, sheep mechanic, they finally stumbled upon a barranco with several bancales sporting grinning, green shoots, complete with an irrigation system.

Of course, one thing is finding over 5,000 plants, and quite another is carting them a kilometre or more to the nearest vehicle-passable track to where their van was waiting.

To make matters worse, there were 1,000 flowerpots containing the timid beginnings of a new crop… which also had to be taken into custody.

One wonders whether they were considering letting him off…

(News: Lujar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)