VIDEO. Ayahuasca, banknotes and toad secretions: a shamanic network dismantled in Spain

2024-01-20 11:12:04

Ayahuasca, banknotes and toad secretions: the Spanish police have just got their hands on some somewhat unusual loot. The authorities have dismantled a large-scale shamanic organization. His promise? Improve the physical and emotional health of members within “centers of inner evolution”. 18 people have been arrested in the last six months. They are accused, among other things, of crimes against public health, trafficking in human beings and illegal exercise of a profession.

The investigation begins when the police spot online advertising campaigns. They sell “neo-shamanic rituals based on psychoactive substances”. “It’s a way for the guru to make followers dependent, both on the product and on the doctrine,” analyzes Charline Delporte, president of the National Center for Family Support in the Face of Sectarian Control. To obtain supplies, the group had a center in Colombia, where ayahuasca was prepared, a hallucinogenic decoction made from liana used in rituals in the Amazon. “Mules” then transported the beverage to Spain, where the group organized paid shamanic retreats. During the rituals, participants consumed psychotropic substances: ayahuasca, peyote (cactus), or even toad secretions. The organization had branches all over the world, from Spain to France, including Mexico and Finland. The guru died during the investigation.