Police pressure at the airport shifts robberies to the highways

BarcelonaThe relationship between police and thieves often ends up becoming a game of cat and rat: when the former increase pressure on a hotspot for theft, the latter move to new locations and may even change their strategy to continue committing crimes. This is happening these days at El Prat Airport, one of the hotspots with the most thefts in the country. As this newspaper reported, the incessant rate of thefts (they have multiplied by ten in a decade) made the Mossos d'Esquadra put many more officers in the infrastructure, a reinforcement that is beginning to give results and which has managed to stop the flow of robberiesAt the height of the crisis, there was one theft every hour, and now there are four or five a day. Patrols, arrests, and identifications have increased... But some usual They haven't disappeared from the facilities: they've changed their setting.

According to sources consulted by this newspaper, police pressure has led some thieves to identify their victims within the infrastructure, but end up robbing them on the road, at the airport exits. Their tactics are similar to those of highway robbers: they stop the vehicle with some excuse, such as a flat tire, and then distract the driver while they steal their luggage. A very recent robbery, on March 6, perfectly exemplifies this new tactic. The Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) were informed of a theft from a vehicle that was stopped on the shoulder of one of the airport's exit roads. In fact, they even accessed a video recorded by a witness, to which ARA has also had access, where two people can be seen distracting the driver outside the vehicle and two others grabbing a backpack from the back of the car.

The Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) managed to identify the thieves, and one of them is well-known to the police. He's a 48-year-old man considered the top thief at the airport. In fact, the courts imposed the first restraining order against him from the airport (there are currently fifty in force) due to his previous record at El Prat Airport. This repeat offender has been arrested 96 times in Catalonia, and 34 have been at the airport. He's been identified 500 times, 440 of which have been at El Prat Airport. He's also been charged 152 times for crimes, 50 of which he allegedly committed on airport infrastructure.

The Catalan police are already familiar with the repeat offenders who tend to approach El Prat Airport to steal, as well as the cars they use. They often identify them from security cameras and evict them before they can act. This pressure is what has now led them to move onto the highway.

Arrest inside the airport

Mossos d'Esquadra investigators managed to identify and arrest this man and his companion this Monday, according to ARA. Where were they? Trying to enter the airport. The police have already considered this latest robbery at the entrances to El Prat Airport to be solved, but knowledgeable sources warn of this new tactic by the thieves and have already issued internal warnings to also intensify surveillance on these surrounding roads. The supervision of these areas is the responsibility of other Mossos d'Esquadra units, not those in charge of the airport.

The fact that police pressure in a specific location eventually causes a displacement of crime is a common dynamic. For example, when many operations are carried out in a row in the Raval neighborhood of Barcelona, ​​​​drug trafficking and drug trafficking groups often move to other locations. Or a more far-reaching example: police pressure in the Strait of Gibraltar is what has caused drug boats carrying hashish to arrive and land the drugs on the Catalan coast.