Flagrant increase in robberies in L'Hospitalet: the Mossos focus on young people with scooters

L'Hospitalet de LlobregatNormally, the exit from Collblanc metro station, in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, is a hustle and bustle of people. People entering and leaving the station, transiting along the parallel tracks, and shopping in the businesses surrounding Plaça de la Solidaritat. This Friday afternoon, however, there are more people than usual. A handful of curious onlookers are observing a machine in a semicircle. It is metallic, has two small wheels, and right above it, a Local Police officer places an electric scooter. The machine's wheels roll and make the scooter's wheels roll. The officer looks at a tablet to check the result and shortly after looks at the scooter driver with a troubled expression. It has been tampered with. The machine has concluded that it can reach 60 km/h. The City Council takes the scooter and the driver, a fine.

Electric scooters are accumulating at this point in the square. "Yes, it has been tampered with, you don't need to look at it," admits a driver. Just at this moment, the radio of a Mossos d'Esquadra officer crackles. Over the airwaves, they are describing a mobile phone, a Samsung, being snatched by a snatch-and-grab in the Pubilla Cases neighborhood. The thief fled at full speed on an electric scooter towards Esplugues de Llobregat. The Mossos have seen thieves fleeing on scooters that reached 130 km/h. Everything is happening very quickly because a few minutes later the radio crackles again: now a robbery has occurred in a supermarket. In 2025, crimes decreased by 4.1% in Catalonia and 6.1% in Barcelona, but they increased by 10% in the second most populous city in the country, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat.

While police activity increased, with 10% more arrests, crimes also rose: there were 5.9% more robberies with violence and intimidation, 5% more petty thefts, and 52% more thefts from inside vehicles. Now, above all, the police are concerned about the rise in violent robberies. In 2025, there were more than seven each day in the city, mainly perpetrated by increasingly young individuals on scooters who have a predilection for mobile phones. Both the thieves and the victims are residents of L'Hospitalet; a phenomenon that does not occur in Barcelona, where mainly tourists are robbed and the perpetrators of the robberies do not even live in the Catalan capital.

Movement and density

The Mossos believe that behind this increase there may be a displacement of crime after a lot of police pressure in the center of Barcelona and at El Prat airport. They also indicate that L'Hospitalet is a city with a high population density – it has the highest in Catalonia by far – and that there are also very busy transport nodes, such as the Collblanc station itself. Furthermore, there is the factor of the vulnerability of certain neighborhoods in the municipality. "50% of the population lives in five neighborhoods," exemplified Superintendent Sònia Rius, head of the Mossos in L'Hospitalet.

This cocktail has led the Catalan police to launch a new plan called Bastió. "We want to reverse this crime curve and increase the perception of security," explained Superintendent Miquel Hueso, deputy head of the Mossos' Territorial Superior Commissariat. It is an operation that has been underway for a month and represents an intensification of controls and police presence, accompanied by an in-depth analysis of the phenomenon of violent robberies.

Hand in hand with the Kanpai plan, designed to combat repeat offending, Bastió is based on four main pillars. These are prevention, with more patrolling in hot spots; detection, with more plainclothes officers on the streets; investigation, dedicating more resources to investigating these robberies and also catching those who buy stolen goods; and victim support, Rius specified.

First results

The Mossos defend that the plan has caused a 10% drop in violent robberies and a 16% drop in thefts from inside vehicles. Furthermore, more thieves are being put into preventative custody. Robberies are concentrated in the afternoons, especially on Wednesdays and Sundays. The neighborhoods with the highest incidence are Santa Eulàlia, Pubilla Cases, la Florida, Collblanc, and la Torrassa. The Mossos state that the hottest areas coincide with those spaces where there are also more drug dealing points and more fights.

A pattern is emerging among the perpetrators of these robberies: they are very young boys who mostly use scooters. 87% are men and 22% are minors. That is to say, two out of every ten robberies are committed by a teenager. In fact, this year, four cases of robbery have been committed by minors under 14 years old. In 46% of cases, a scooter was involved. And the most stolen item? Mobile phones, in 65% of situations. On the other hand, in only 13% of robberies was a bladed weapon involved.

These are quick and opportunistic robberies, where the victim is not selected far in advance. According to the police, anyone can be a victim, and this exacerbates the sense of insecurity. The perpetrators usually cover their faces and flee quickly. Hence, the police's fight also includes controlling these vehicles. "Intercepting them is very complicated, and we have now defined a device for a specific target", states the police. Additionally, in many cases, these are young people who are not flagged because they have never been arrested before and do not have a criminal record, which further complicates investigations. The Mossos plan to maintain this siege on violent robbery at least until the end of August, when all data from the period will be analyzed.