A 53-year-old man has been arrested by Spain’s National Police in Cogollos Vega, Granada, accused of illegally extracting groundwater for 19 years. Police said the scheme involved a borehole running a submersible pump to water more than 4,500 olive trees. Investigators estimate the water was moved through nearly 2,445 metres of underground pipes to an unauthorized storage pond with a capacity of about 6,360 cubic metres. The operation began after officers detected a groundwater abstraction at the Guindalera site. Checks carried out with the Confederation Hidrográfica del Guadalquivir found the installation lacked the required administrative authorisations. During technical inspections, police discovered the pump was powered through a control board connected to a meter that had allegedly been tampered with and bypassed, so the electricity consumption would not be recorded. The network of pipes crossed areas of public hydraulic domain, including the Arroyo de las Casillas, and also ran along public municipal paths without building licences or municipal permits. The extracted water was then allegedly supplied for systematic irrigation across 16 plots containing dry-farming olives. Police also reported earthworks and deep ploughing with heavy machinery that may have affected nearby forest vegetation. They said officers detected an unauthorized channeling of a natural spring. According to police, sustained and uncontrolled extraction over almost two decades may have severely altered local aquifers and water sources, with reports of streams and springs drying up and impacts on the local ecosystem. The man has been arrested. The investigation is ongoing, and he is attributed a suspected offence against natural resources and the environment, offences related to town and land planning, and electricity fraud.