From Maresme to Morocco or China: Two apartments in Mataró attacked with an arsenal of stolen cell phones.

BarcelonaNew offensive by the Mossos d'Esquadra against the resale of stolen cell phones. According to ARA, early this morning the Catalan police force launched an operation in Mataró against two apartments where stolen phones were allegedly stored and distributed. The thefts mainly occurred in Barcelona, and the owners of these apartments then purchased the stolen devices to resell them in other countries. According to police sources, three arrests have been made, and more than 600 cell phones and €58,000 in cash have been recovered.

At the end of July The Mossos have already carried out a police operation This operation put an end to the activity in several apartments in Barcelona's Raval district, which were dedicated to the purchase of stolen cell phones, a fundamental pillar of the country's multi-offending business. Every day in Catalonia, 155 cell phones are stolen, and half of the thefts occur in Barcelona. The Mossos d'Esquadra recovered more than 1,000 phones that were stolen in many parts of Spain, but also around the world. This Thursday's operation is considered the second phase of the investigation.

Police hope to dismantle another active receiving point for these devices. However, according to sources consulted by ARA, the Ciutat Vella and Mataró groups are distinct gangs: while the former originate from Pakistan, the latter originate from North Africa. However, they maintained business dealings with each other, as the Mataró gang often purchased stolen cell phones collected by the Raval groups. Officers from Barcelona's Criminal Investigation Division (DIC) detected that some cell phones, which were initially located by geolocation in Raval—although the criminal group wrapped them in aluminum foil to prevent them from emitting a signal—were subsequently transported to the Mataró locations where the raid was made on Thursday.

Once they had the devices, they attempted to defraud their owners—just as the Ciutat Vella gang had done on several occasions. When they had exhausted the devices, they sent them mainly to North Africa. Once again, these are stolen phones not only in Catalonia but also in the rest of Spain and other parts of the world. When these phones, usually Apple, aren't in good enough condition to be resold, they're usually sent to China for spare parts. Typically, when they tried to scam, they sent a message pretending to be from iCloud (Apple's cloud storage system).