Drug seizures in Madrid reach €320 million retail value
The State seized drugs in Madrid valued at a potential €320.65 million in 2025. The capital accounts for nearly all DMT and ayahuasca intercepted in Spain.
Madrid, Spain's main entry point for ayahuasca and illegal pharmaceuticals
Drugs seized by the State in Madrid during 2025 would have reached a potential value of €320.65 million if sold at retail prices, according to information from Google News ES — Crime (es) based on data from the Centre for Intelligence against Terrorism and Organised Crime (CITCO), a body under the Ministry of the Interior. The balance also reflects a notable shift in the profile of seizures: heroin, marijuana and hashish are rising sharply, whilst cocaine shows a pronounced decline, although it alone still accounts for roughly two-thirds of the estimated total value.
The data form part of CITCO's Annual Statistics on Drugs 2025 and describe police seizures, not consumption nor necessarily the volume destined for the Madrid market. A single large-scale operation can significantly alter the annual balance, and the tables in the report do not specify how many interventions lie behind each recorded amount. The potential retail sale values have been calculated by applying average national prices from the Spanish Drug and Addiction Observatory and, in the absence of reference in its tables, valuations from the Central National Office for Narcotics.
Cocaine: remains the highest-value substance despite sharp drop
Cocaine continues to be, by far, the drug with the greatest economic weight, although its seizures collapsed by 44.04% compared to 2024. The Interior Ministry recorded 3,548 kilos in the region, compared to a 37.82% fall across Spain as a whole. Madrid's share of the national total fell from 6.50% in 2021 to 4.61% in 2025. At an average price of €59.59 per gramme, the quantity seized would have represented approximately €211.45 million on the retail market.
Heroin: Madrid accounts for over a quarter of the national total
Heroin evolved in the opposite direction. In Madrid, 33.844 kilos were seized, 79.18% more than the previous year, in a year when the national increase stood at 0.78%. The region thus came to account for 26.08% of all heroin seized in Spain; only Catalonia, with 26.39%, was slightly higher. Between the two regions they accumulated more than half the national total. At approximately €60 per gramme, the amount seized would have reached about €2.03 million at retail prices.
Cannabis: historic surge in marijuana and hashish
Marijuana seizures in Madrid rose to 3,952 kilos, 51.45% more than in 2024, in a year when national seizures fell by 16.16%. Madrid's share rose in twelve months from 6.17% to 11.15% of the Spanish total. At €6.26 per gramme, its potential value would be around €24.74 million.
The jump was even greater with hashish: 4,532 kilos seized, 126.33% more than in the previous year, compared to growth of 29.14% recorded across the country as a whole. At the reference price of €6.72 per gramme, the quantity would equate to approximately €30.46 million in retail sales. The security forces also located 36,080 cannabis plants, 44.71% more, whilst the national total fell by 17.72% to 875,061 units.
Ecstasy and amphetamines: Madrid loses prominence
Crystal MDMA followed a trajectory opposite to that of cannabis. Madrid had accounted for 72.18% of national seizures in 2022 and 40.91% in 2024; in 2025 its share plummeted to 5.94%, with seizures falling from 193 kilos to 40.281 kilos, 79.17% less, whilst the figure for Spain as a whole grew by 43.54%. Catalonia accounted for 87.28% of crystal MDMA seized that year. At a price close to €46.04 per gramme, what was seized in Madrid would represent a potential value of approximately €1.85 million.
Ecstasy tablets followed the same trend: from 139,455 units in 2024 to 44,054 in 2025, a fall of 68.41%, whilst Spanish seizures increased by 40.78%. At €13.08 per tablet, the seized pills would equate to approximately €576,000 on the retail market.
With amphetamines the picture is harder to interpret. Those counted by units collapsed by 88.61%, from 45,890 to 5,227 units, but amphetamine sulphate measured by weight reached 30.651 kilos, 3,286% more, in a year when the national total fell by 35.66%. At the reference price for speed, €29.90 per gramme, the haul would be around €920,000.
Madrid, the national gateway for ayahuasca, DMT and illegal viagra
Beyond the major mass-consumption drugs, the capital's market presents significant distinctive features within Spanish drug trafficking. With 436.056 kilos of DMT intercepted, Madrid accounts for practically 100% of national seizures of this substance. In the case of ayahuasca, the 151 kilos seized in the region represent 99.99% of the total seized across the entire country.
The capital also leads interventions of illegal viagra: more than 30,566 tablets removed from the market represent 89.64% of the national total, making Madrid the main distribution point for this counterfeit or unauthorised pharmaceutical in Spain.
Reports: almost 1% of the regional population
During the past year, 68,477 reports were filed for possession and consumption of narcotics in the Madrid Region, a figure equivalent to almost 1% of the region's population, according to the same CITCO data.
Source: Google News ES — Crime (es)