"The phone's location tells me it's here": Police crack down on reselling stolen cell phones

BarcelonaNearly a thousand cell phones, €40,000 in cash, and seventeen arrests. This is the outcome of the massive operation by the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) deployed this Thursday morning in the Barcelona neighborhood of Raval against repeated offenses and the resale of electronic devices, according to police sources told ARA. The police operation led to the dismantling of a group that bought stolen phones and engaged in receiving stolen goods; that is, profiting from reselling materials stolen by someone else. It is considered one of the main cell phone resale networks in the Catalan capital and the metropolitan area.

The operation began around 10:00 a.m., with searches of five homes on Carretes Street in the Raval neighborhood and six shops in the neighborhood (including a butcher shop and a fruit and vegetable store located across from the properties seized, and a nearby supermarket). The Mossos d'Esquadra also entered an apartment in Badalona and another in Sant Andreu de la Barca and searched them. In total, seventeen people were arrested.

modus operandi This network's business is based on the purchase of technological devices, primarily iPhones, stolen from tourists. Many have been stolen in the Catalan capital, but they can also be stolen in other parts of Europe. According to police sources, once they acquire the phones, the group's members attempt to access them and send messages to emergency contacts requesting the keys (such as the PIN code) to unlock them. How? By posing as Apple or banking companies. The phones pass through the hands and circulate between the addresses of those involved in the plot. Finally, they are disposed of by sending them to other countries in Africa and Asia.

A neighbor who lives a few meters from the apartments searched explained to ARA that it's not surprising that people come to the area claiming their phones have been stolen: "The location [of the phone] tells them it's at this point," she says. Several maintenance workers also claim that since Wednesday they had seen officers "checking documentation" on the street where the police intervention finally took place on Thursday.

In the event of a stolen mobile phone, the Mossos d'Esquadra recommend reporting the theft to the police station and providing the phone's IMEI, which is a type of license plate number. This number is unique; no other phone in the world has it, and when the device connects to a network, it automatically sends that identifier. With this information, the police have a greater opportunity to locate it if it is lost or stolen.

This Thursday's massive operation is part of the Kanpai plan against repeated offenses and property crimes, which the Mossos d'Esquadra have been leading throughout the country for several months now. In this case, the operation was led by the Barcelona Criminal Investigation Division (DIC), with the participation of the Ciutat Vella Information Unit and the Barcelona Regional Investigation Area.