The strong smell of marijuana led police in Italy to investigate a tunnel being used as an underground mushroom farm. Police discovered that the tunnel, located in Rome and once intended to serve the interests of totalitarian fascism under Benito Mussolini in 1930s Italy, was now being used as a cannabis cultivation cavern.
Officers recovered 340 kilograms (almost 750 pounds) of cannabis worth an estimated 3 million Euros.
After raiding the tunnel, authorities discovered what they described as an “indoor plantation.” Beyond a fake wall separating the grow space from the legit (non-psychedelic) mushroom farm was a 4,000 sq meters space that accommodated 1,000 plants in various stages of growth. Plants were being grown under halogen lamps and a “complex irrigation system” was used to water the crop. A separate room contained equipment to cure harvested buds and package the finished product.
Apparently the odor was so overwhelming that the police wore masks and drug-sniffing dogs were removed from the tunnel.
Police made only one arrest – the 57-year-old owner of the mushroom-cultivation business. No cannabis cultivators were present during the raid. Law enforcement speculated that the chief suspects in the growing operation might be part of a criminal organization known as the Camorra.