The block of Muntaner street that accumulates 49 police interventions for intensive drug use

BarcelonaSince the beginning of the year, the situation in a building on Muntaner street in Barcelona has forced the police forces to pay special attention to it. For months, residents have called 112 dozens of times and the Mossos d'Esquadra have intervened up to 49 occasions. The main reasons: on the one hand, arguments, threats, and incidents that make residents feel unsafe and, on the other hand, alleged drug possession. However, as ARA has learned, ongoing police investigations have not been able to confirm that there is a drug den – where drugs are sold and consumed – nor is there any report of the property being occupied.

"At 112 they already know us," admitted a resident of the building this Thursday in statements to RAC1. According to her testimony, the conflict dates back to February 2025, when a new owner moved into one of the 24 apartments in the building. When this person stopped living there, disturbances and fights reportedly increased. Other people are now installed there and there is no record of any complaint of squatting.

The incidents reportedly reached the point of seeing a man in the stairwell with a knife or others breaking down the door to gain entry, according to the testimony of this same neighbor. The owners of the other apartments in the building have tried to report the dwelling as a drug den after seeing the constant traffic of people entering and leaving the apartment with signs of having consumed drugs. Faced with the feeling of insecurity, the residents of the building have opted to hire a private security service.

Mossos sources assure that they have acted in response to the requests to the emergency telephone number 112 and to the formal complaints, with different checks in situ and communicating with the community of owners. They add that they will continue to respond to incidents that are reported to them and to monitor the situation.

Complaints

For their part, municipal sources explain that both the Guàrdia Urbana and the Eixample district are aware of the situation. On Wednesday, a patrol from the Urbana reported a person heading to the apartment on a rental bike, who could not prove they had obtained it legally. For this reason, they were investigated for alleged misappropriation, police sources assure.

The homeowners' association has submitted several requests to the City Council, and an inspection ruled out that the property was being used as a tourist apartment. The affected parties also requested legal advice from the council, and they were recommended to agree as a community to judicially report the disturbances they suffer.

So far, lawsuits have focused on claims for non-payment to the homeowners' association, and those filed at the municipal level concern sanitation. In parallel, following this case, the College of Property Administrators of Barcelona and Lleida (CAFBL) has called for property communities to have more tools to report cases of occupation that affect coexistence and safety.

Sources familiar with the case distinguish the situation of this building from what had been experienced with drug dens in other areas of the Catalan capital, mainly in the Raval neighborhood. They add that, although it had been feared that police pressure could cause these drug selling and consumption points to move to the Eixample – and some have been detected so far – the situation is far from comparable to what was experienced in Ciutat Vella.