Guardia Civil officers have seized 26,000 snails on an industrial estate in El Cuervo, Sevilla, the largest mollusc seizure ever in Spain.
The snails are from Morocco (even the snails are trying to get out) and according to the documentation, were supposed to be taken to an authorised company in Córdoba where the necessary health monitoring, labelling and packaging would take place.
However, they were diverted to an unauthorised site in Sevilla from where they would be distributed to street vendors in various municipalities in Cádiz and Sevilla provinces.
In April, the authorities seized a shipment of 800 kilos of snails in the town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, these also being distributed without the necessary sanitary permits.